Stay With Me
by BrittzandTana
Summary: This is the sequel to my Clexa story Come With Me. It is cross posted from Ao3. It's been three months since Clarke and Lexa both returned from their trip to Europe and found themselves having to part ways. It's been hard to be apart. Neither of them are quite sure how to move forward. Clarke and Lexa are stuck, and are quite ready to be unstuck. CLEXA! CLARKE/LEXA! AU!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey lovelies! This is the sequel to "Come With Me". Once again, this story is complete on Ao3, but I will be posting 2 chapters a day until it's complete on here as well :) I hope you all enjoy, it was such a fun ride to write, and I hope that it can reach all of the people who don't use Ao3 but who would be interested to read it :D**

 **While you could have read CWM and not read this, it is pretty much necessary to read Come With Me in order to understand a lot of the premise and whatnot of the story :P**

 **Disclaimer: I don't know The 100!**

 **Enjoy ;) xx**

* * *

"No, don't worry about it, I'm on my way." Clarke held her phone against her ear with her shoulder and she locked the front door of her mom's house. "And I'll get the last two boxes, I just need you to be there to let me in."

Raven huffed. "O is like, spamming me with texts about these goddamn boxes."

"I'm on my way, Rae," Clarke promised, rolling her eyes. "If Octavia wants us to help her move, she can handle waiting a few extra minutes. I had to make sure all of my stuff was packed up."

"Wait, is all your shit in your car right now?"

"No," Clarke answered, huffing incredulously as she unlocked her car and opened the driver's side door. "I just wanted to make sure it's all ready. You have to help me come and get it when we're done at Octavia's place."

"I know, I know," Raven said. "Hurry up and get your ass over here, Griffin!"

"I'll see you in a few." Clarke hung up the phone, dropping it in the empty passenger seat, and then started up her car. As she drove, she let herself exhale with relief. Today was the day that she was finally going to be moving into her own place again. Well, not entirely her own place, but with Raven. Octavia was moving in with Lincoln, leaving half of her shared apartment with Raven open. The previous week, Clarke and her two best friends had gone to talk to the landlord of the apartment and organized an easy transfer of sorts regarding official ownership of the apartment. It would be in Raven's name, rather than in both Octavia's and Raven's, and Clarke could give her rent directly to her best friend, who would then pay for the whole thing.

It had been three months since she moved back in with her mom in her childhood home, after opting out of staying on her best friends' couch. Three months since she'd come back from her spontaneous, three week trip to Europe.

On one hand, it felt like a long time ago. On the other, it could've been just yesterday. Sometimes, it felt like a dream.

A very realistic and long dream, with a very physical and real result, but a dream nonetheless.

She was just happy to be moving back out from her mom's place. She appreciated her mom letting her stay for a while, but it was weird. She was twenty-three and should've been entirely supporting herself. By now, she probably could've afforded to get herself a place, but once she and Raven had heard that Octavia was indeed planning on moving in with Lincoln, she'd postponed any plans of moving into an apartment alone in favor of sharing one with Raven.

She drove up in front of the apartment building that she would be living in by that night, and saw Raven waiting for her outside, two boxes sitting on the ground next to her. She temporarily parked her car along the curb and hopped out. "Hey," she called.

"Finally!" Raven exclaimed. "Had to wait fucking forever for you, C!"

"Just get the boxes in my car. The sooner I can be moved into this place, the better."

"Why? Got plans tonight or something?" Raven smirked, and the blonde huffed indignantly.

"I told Lexa I would Face Time with her tonight, but she's already off of work for today," Clarke complained, crossing her arms over her chest, "which means that she's sitting around doing nothing, and I can't even call her. So we need to shove this shit in my car and bring it to O."

"Okay, okay," Raven said, smirking again as she grabbed one of the boxes and started to Clarke's car. The blonde followed her movements, and once the two boxes were deposited neatly into her back seat, Raven hopped into her own car, parked along the side of the road as well, and they started off to Lincoln's – now also Octavia's – apartment.

Upon reaching it, they had to make multiple trips up and down to bring all of the stuff from Raven's car and the two boxes from her own car to the apartment. When they were finally done, they collapsed onto Lincoln's couch.

"Linc," Raven started, letting out a tired breath, "I don't know where you think all Octavia's stuff is going to fit in this little place."

"We'll make room," he said, amused.

Clarke coughed into her hand, muttering, "Whipped," at the same time.

"I'm not whipped!" Lincoln insisted, crossing his arms. "I'm just a good boyfriend."

"What do you mean, just a good boyfriend?" Octavia asked, entering the living room of the apartment from her and Lincoln's bedroom. "Did I miss something?"

"Just Clarke saying that you have your boyfriend whipped as fuck," Raven answered, grinning at her widely. "Which is so true. You had him whipped before you guys even started dating. And I still can't fucking believe that you guys waiting so long before getting together."

"Yes, we know, Rae," Octavia interrupted, shaking her head. "You say this all the time. It's been over three months since we got together, so you can get over it."

"Never," Raven protested. "One day when you guys get married, when everyone gets to make speeches, I am going to bring it up again. It'll be a great story."

"Not if you keep bringing it up now." Octavia crossed her arms in annoyance. She looked to Clarke, clearly trying to keep herself from snapping at Raven. "Do you need help moving your stuff? I kind of owe you anyway."

"No, Raven and I can manage it," Clarke answered, getting up from the couch and grabbed her best friend's arm. "Come on, Rae."

"No," the brunette groaned, not allowing Clarke to pull her off of the couch.

"After all that pressure to get me to move in with you, now you don't want me to?"

Raven hopped up off of the couch. "Okay, let's go. See you, O! Bye, Linc!"

"Bye guys," Octavia and Lincoln said as Clarke dragged her best friend out of the room.

"So," Raven started as they made their way out of the apartment and down to where their cars were waiting for them, "since you're moving in to the apartment, is there any phone sex noises I should be aware of?"

Clarke's face flushed dark red as she choked on air. "No! Raven, Lexa and I don't have phone sex."

"Yes you do, there's no way that you don't," Raven insisted. "You two had sex like every day while you guys were in Europe. And now I'm supposed to believe that you've gone three months without at least talking dirty to each other over the phone?" Unsure of what to say, Clarke decided that it would be best to just not confirm or deny anything, and so she kept her lips sealed. "Totally knew it. I'll make sure not to freak out when I hear the phone sex."

Dejectedly, the blonde muttered, "We didn't have sex everyday."

They reached their cars, and Raven just smirked and rolled her eyes as they parted ways. Raven followed Clarke's car back to her mom's house, and they went into the house to start gathering up Clarke's boxes to shove them into their cars.

Abby Griffin, Clarke's mom, had apparently returned to the house in Clarke's absence. "Finally moving out?" her mom asked playfully.

"Ha ha." Blue eyes rolled, but a smile appeared on Clarke's face anyway. "Yep. Thanks for letting me stay with you for a little while, mom."

"Of course, Clarke. It was the perfect opportunity to keep an eye on you anyway. Had to make sure that you weren't going to disappear onto a plane to Siberia next," Abby teased.

Raven snickered. "If you expect her to run off anywhere, it would be New York."

"Shut up, Rae," Clarke muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Speaking of, how are you and Lexa? Have either of you seen each other since getting back from Europe?"

"No," Clarke answered, frowning. "I mean, not in person. We talk every day and Face Time every night that we both don't have work. Which is very rare, considering my hours at the bar. But I took the day off today, so I'm going to call her tonight, after all my stuff is in the apartment. And with that, Rae and I should probably just grab my stuff and go. Thanks again, mom."

"Nice segue," her mom said lightly, smiling. "You're welcome. Drive safe."

After a few more minutes of moving Clarke's things into the two cars, she and Raven started back to the apartment that was now officially both of theirs.

Upon arriving, it took them another twenty minutes or so to bring all of her things up to her new room. Octavia hadn't needed her bed, since Lincoln had a perfectly good one already, so Clarke's room came with the old bed frame and mattress. The place wasn't anything special, a small apartment with two small bedrooms and two bathrooms, but it was definitely an upgrade from not having her own place at all previously.

"Alright," Clarke said, once she was looking at her now box-cluttered room. "Thanks, babe."

"No problem," Raven said, smiling at her friend. "Now, you should probably call your real babe. Remember, she's already off work."

"Shut up," Clarke said, blushing. "You better go hide out in your room and cover your ears – you might hear phone sex noises!"

"Better put some sheets on your bed first, C," Raven said, smirking. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. Night."

Raven left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Clarke made the effort to dig her sheets out of one of her boxes, but not for any explicit reasons. She made her bed nicely and topped it off with her pillows, before getting herself ready for bed and changing into comfy clothes. Once she was sufficiently comfortable, she slid under her covers and got out her phone.

 **To My Hot Photographer – You good to FT now? I miss you! :(**

The reply was almost instantaneous.

 **From My Hot Photographer – Yes! I've been in bed trying to find something to do on my phone while I was waiting.**

Clarke didn't bother to answer the text, instead clicking the Face Time button next to her girlfriend's contact straightaway.

"Hey," Lexa's voice came through as her face appeared on the screen, pixelated for a moment before the picture became clear. She was sitting upright in her bed, which Clarke easily recognized.

"Hi," the blonde breathed out, relieved to see her girlfriend's face. "How was your day?"

"Average," Lexa answered, smiling a little. "How was moving?"

"Ugh, painful. I should really work out or something. Boxes are heavy. But all my stuff is in here now. I just have to spend my mornings everyday now sorting through them and organizing this place. I hate moving."

"Maybe you should start going to the gym," Lexa suggested, chuckling.

"No, because if I did, I'd get sexier, and we both know that you're the hot one in this relationship," Clarke teased, grinning cheekily.

"Oh please, you're perfect, Clarke."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Miss Woods."

"Considering that we're currently four hours away from one another, I'd say that that is probably true," Lexa commented, sighing.

Clarke frowned. "Yeah." They were both silent for a moment, but then Clarke asked, "How's the gallery exhibit?"

Lexa's face lit up, making Clarke's heart flutter. "It's great! I stopped by there today actually. It looks so good. I wish you could see it."

"I want to come down and see it sometime," Clarke said, smiling. "I might have to crash at your place if I do."

"Oh no, how dreadful," Lexa deadpanned, her sparkling green eyes rolling. Clarke grinned, and Lexa smiled before continuing, "If you're serious about coming up though, you need to plan for two days. Because I'm claiming a full twenty-four hours for you to be in my bed."

Clarke bit down on her lower lip. "Sounds good to me."

"When?" Lexa asked, stretching out the word adorably. "I miss you."

"Well, I'm all moved now, and I'm good on the money situation as far as work goes, so I can afford to take off another Saturday. And I don't usually work on Sundays, so... I can come down maybe next weekend?"

Lexa let out a breath. "Next weekend wouldn't work for me. There's this big event thing happening at the museum. I'm basically their slave for the whole weekend. How about the weekend after?"

Clarke thought for a moment, reviewing her mental calendar, and then she nodded. "That would work."

* * *

They Face Timed until Clarke fell asleep, at which point Lexa smiled softly at her phone and then hung up the call. It was unfortunate, the distance between her and her girlfriend. But the fact was that they were lucky to be together anyway – it was purely coincidence that they had even met in the first place.

Lexa would be lying if she said that she hadn't hoped that Clarke would want to move to New York after the few months they'd been apart. She'd sounded awfully unexcited about moving in with her mother again, who Lexa still had yet to meet, and Raven's place had been unavailable at the time. Lexa would've suggested it herself, but she was very sure that Clarke would've refused. Not because she didn't love Lexa – that wasn't ever a question in the brunette's mind – but because too many things held her to DC. Her mom, her best friends, and her job. Were it not for her job, she might have thought that Clarke would actually accept the offer. Clarke loved her job, and though she could be a bartender anywhere, she had a sort of reputation where she worked currently. Lexa could picture Clarke's face lighting up every time she mentioned working there – she didn't want to take the blonde away from that.

So Lexa hadn't suggested it, and she wasn't sure that she would.

She did miss Clarke, desperately really. But it had only taken her a week to be able to fall asleep quickly without the blonde next to her. And three months later, she was functioning well enough. The only problem was that she constantly felt bored. When she wasn't working or taking photos, she never felt like she had anything to do. She tried to picture things that she'd done in her free time before her second trip to Europe, and all she came up with was reading. And for some reason, it didn't feel like a proper way to fill up her time.

It also didn't help that Lexa worked during the day, and Clarke tended to work at night. Their phone calls were sometimes far too short, but they were never far in between. They hadn't gone a single day without talking, and their text conversations usually spanned throughout the whole day.

The one benefit of finding herself constantly bored, though, was that Lexa began to go out more often with her friends. She'd never been one to see her friends daily – she hadn't really formed any friendships that were as constantly involved as say, Clarke's friendship with Raven. But it became normal for her to go out with Anya every couple of days, as well as their friends Luna and Tristan. She found herself closer to them than she had ever been before, which felt actually quite nice.

Still, she missed Clarke every day. At first, she'd thought maybe it was a bit excessive, how much she missed the blonde. But essentially living with her for three weeks had given them plenty of time to develop the relationship they had now. Lexa just wished that they could physically be together everyday.

Taking in a deep breath, the brunette reached over to her nightstand and plugged in her phone, before curling up into her blankets on her huge, empty bed. Letting her eyes flicker closed, she tried to imagine that Clarke wasn't hours away.

* * *

"Clarke," the blonde heard someone singsong. Annoyed, she groaned and buried her face into her pillow. "Clarke! Lexa's here!"

"What?" Clarke asked, opening her eyes and looking up at her best friend.

"Just kidding. I just needed you to wake up."

"Fuck you, Rae," Clarke muttered, grabbing her pillow and dropping it on top of her face.

"Come on, I know you have off today, but it's noon, you gotta get up."

"Is this what it was like when I lived with you before?" Clarke muttered.

"No, because you're usually the one who woke up on time during college," Raven answered, chuckling. "Okay fine, the Lexa thing was a low blow. I'm sorry. But I need you to go out with me and Harper."

"Why?"

"She has a date tonight, and she doesn't know what to wear, so we need to provide our professional assistance," Raven explained.

"I'm pretty sure that we are not qualified enough for that," Clarke said, smiling a little despite herself as she pulled the pillow off of her face and looked up at her best friend. "But fine, let's go. Might as well get up anyway."

"When we get back, you should probably unpack your shit."

"I've got plenty of time," Clarke said, rolling her eyes as she sat up in her bed.

Raven just smiled, but Clarke could tell that some other emotions were playing behind her brown eyes. Had Clarke not just woken up, she may have asked her best friend if something was wrong right then and there, but she decided instead that she would just bring it up later.

For now, she clambered out of bed, moving to one of her boxes of clothes and beginning to dig through it to find something to wear.

And despite this being the start of the next stage of her life – at least, that's what it felt like now that she had a stable living situation – she wasn't particularly excited or invigorated by it. Something was missing.

That something was about 228 miles away, in New York City.


	2. Chapter 2

**To My Hot Photographer – Help, I'm being forced to help Harper shop.**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Where are you shopping?**

 **To My Hot Photographer – I don't know, I hate shopping. :(**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Why? Shopping is fun! ;)**

 **To My Hot Photographer – No it's not. :( Plus, I'm not shopping for myself. And Harper is so fucking picky. UGH. I just wanna go home and unpack my shit.**

"Clarke," Harper said, her voice loud enough that Clarke figured she'd been trying to get her attention for a few minutes. "Which one of these is prettier?"

"The red one!" Raven exclaimed, crossing her arms. Clarke looked up finally, glancing at the two dresses that her blonde friend was holding up expectantly.

"I like the red one," Clarke agreed.

"You barely even looked at them," Harper huffed out, looking at the dresses again and away from Clarke.

"Clarke's being distracted by her hot photographer girlfriend," Raven said, smirking

Harper laughed. "As per usual."

"Just because you two are single doesn't mean you need to be bitter and jealous," Clarke bit back, smiling a little. Her phone went off, and her gaze dropped down again.

 **From My Hot Photographer – So make up an excuse to leave?**

"Well, after tonight, I may not be single anymore," Harper said happily.

 **To My Hot Photographer – Raven's with us. She knows I don't have anything to do.**

"Meanwhile, here I am," Raven muttered, rolling her eyes.

 **From My Hot Photographer – I'd offer to call you, but I'm at work. :(**

"Is Clarke texting Lexa again?"

 **To My Hot Photographer – I know :(**

"Clarke," Harper whined, pulling her blue gaze away from her phone again.

The blonde looked up again. "I told you, I like the red one. You'd look good in either, Harper, so don't worry about it. Plus, if the guy is going to be the right one, he'll like you for more than the dress you're wearing anyway."

"True, I guess," Harper muttered.

"You still want to look smoking though," Raven insisted, "and the red one is perfect. I'd almost want to fuck you if you were wearing it."

Harper smirked, and Clarke raised an eyebrow at her best friend. "Your gay is showing, Rae."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Raven said, rolling her eyes.

The two of them left Harper at around six in the evening, getting back to their apartment at the perfect time to order takeout. When their Chinese food arrived at their doorstep, they sprawled across the couch that took up easily half of the living room. Clarke had lots of memories of laying on that couch – sleeping, crying, wallowing. It didn't bother her, though. "So," Clarke started, as they ate their food, "I think I'm going to New York the weekend after next."

"Good," Raven said. "I think you should. You and Lexa haven't seen each other recently enough."

"I agree," Clarke said quietly.

There was a pause, and then Raven let out a breath. "What's up, babe?"

"I just... it sucks. That Lexa and I have to be long distance. We weren't even apart for a single day for three week straight. Well... except for one day, but that was the day after I met her basically," Clarke said, shaking her head slightly.

"Well, you guys won't be long distance forever, though. Right?"

"I mean, yeah, we won't," Clarke agreed, "but how do you go from long distance to not?"

"Uh, one of you moves your ass over to other one?"

"No, I know,' Clarke insisted, "but... She loves New York City. And I don't know that I'd want to live there. Not that I wouldn't... it's just... with work any everything here... It would seem like a step backwards in that part of my life. And I know that if I were to move to New York and live with her, we wouldn't need me to have a job right away. But I love my job here. And I'd be away from my mom, and you and O and... everyone."

Raven hummed softly. "Well, she could always come here."

"I wouldn't want to ask that of her," Clarke murmured. "I feel like it's just a hard situation. We're both happy where we live, and I feel like neither of us would want to ask the other to move. I'd feel selfish."

"If you asked, all she could say is no."

"I can't, Rae," Clarke huffed out, furrowing her eyebrows. "I couldn't ask that of her. Anyway. We should talk about something else."

"Got something in mind?"

"Yep, actually," Clarke said, looking pointedly at her best friend. "What was up with you when you woke me up today. You looked uncomfortable or worried about something."

"Oh, nothing," Raven insisted, waving her hand dismissively. "Hey, you should start unpacking. I have to call O about something." Her best friend stood up suspiciously quickly.

"You're not going to finish eating?" Clarke asked, glancing at where her best friend had just set down a box of orange chicken.

"Ah, I'll take it with me," Raven said, grabbing it again and shifting uncomfortably. "I'm leaving early for work tomorrow, but I'll head over to the bar when you start working."

"Okay," Clarke said, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. Raven couched awkwardly, and then disappeared into her room. It was very rare that Clarke or Raven didn't tell each other what was going on with them. They'd been best friends since middle school, and Clarke didn't know whether to be hurt or just extremely concerned now about her best friend. She figured that she could just bring it up again later. Eventually, Raven would share. Clarke was pretty sure that over the years, her stubbornness had spread to her best friend, who had already been stubborn to a certain degree anyway.

Her phone buzzed as she finished her Chinese food.

 **From My Hot Photographer – Call me? :)**

Clarke smiled to herself and clicked the call button by her girlfriend's contact, before bringing the phone up to her ear. At least while she spent the next few hours unpacking, she could talk to Lexa.

* * *

"Hey, Wick," Clarke called as she came in through the back entrance of the bar.

"Hey, Clarke," he called back, flashing her a grin. "How's Monday treating you?"

"Fine," Clarke replied, "I'm happy to be at work again. Sorry I couldn't come in Saturday."

"Did your move go well?" he asked. "You moved in with Raven, didn't you?"

"Yeah," the blonde answered, setting down her bag on the table in the back room of the bar and starting to pull her hair up into a ponytail. "It went alright. I still haven't unpacked everything, though. I started last night, but there's just so much other stuff to do all of the time. I'll probably live out of boxes for another month."

"Why'd you move again?" Wick asked, his face twisting into confusion, before it suddenly lit up. "Ah, right, I remember. The boyfriend dumped you, right?"

Clarke nodded. She was hardly fazed when she talked about it now. She wasn't hurt by what had happened with Finn, especially since she now had Lexa. "Yeah. Funny thing is, after basically claiming out apartment as just his, he moved out last month. Probably couldn't afford the place by himself."

"He sounds like a douche," Wick commented. "Hey, is Raven coming in today?"

Clarke tried not to smirk. Her boss had been crushing on Raven since Clarke first got the job at the bar – her best friend had barged in to be the first person that Clarke would make a drink for, and Wick had had heart eyes since then. "I think so," Clarke answered, "probably pretty soon. She got off work like an hour ago."

"Cool," Wick said, nodding. "Ah, I actually have to run a couple of errands, but I'll be back in a few hours. You want me to open on my way out?"

"That would be awesome," Clarke said, nodding. Her boss nodded, and made his way out into the main room of the bar.

It was about an hour later, while Clarke was making chit chat with one of the bar's early regulars, that Raven came into the bar with a dull expression. Clarke excused herself politely from the conversation and made her way to the end of the bar. Not many people came in before seven, so there wasn't much business yet.

"Why the long face, babe?" Clarke asked, frowning at her friend.

"Oh you know, the usual. Crazy lawyer people ask me to do an extra job for them, offer no monetary reward," Raven answered, rolling her eyes. "Fucking imbeciles. They basically think that I sit down in front of a computer, click a few keys, and bam, their shit works."

"Would a drink help?"

"Fuck yes."

"How much extra work did they ask you to do?" Clarke wondered, grabbed a glass from under the bar and beginning to mix Raven's favorite drink.

"Some hours worth. I started today and stayed late, and will probably stay late for the next two days too. They don't pay me by the hour, but usually they do for working overtime. Which is basically what I'm doing."

"So ask them," Clarke suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

"If I piss them off and they fire me, I'm screwed, though," Raven insisted, pouting.

"If you piss them off and they fire you, they're losing the best tech nerd in DC," Clarke said, smiling a little. "I don't think they'd fire you. You do like, everything for them. You may as well ask them. The worst they could say is no."

"Which is exactly what I said to you about asking Lexa to move here."

Clarke frowned. "That's different, Rae. You're talking about money and a job. Asking Lexa to move here covers way more aspects of life than that."

"Mm, whatever," Raven said, shaking her head. "I'll ask my boss tomorrow. But you should still talk to Lexa."

Clarke let out a sigh, finally sliding Raven's finished drink across the bar to her friend. "Whatever," she echoed back to her friend. "Hey, by the way, you seen my necklace from Paris?"

"No..."

"You stole it, didn't you?"

"No?"

Clarke raised an eyebrow at her best friend, who was clearly fighting an evil grin as she sipped her drink. "Rae, you can't be mad at me for forgetting to buy something for you. If it makes you feel better, there are loads of pictures."

"All on display in a fancy gallery four hours away from here," Raven reminded her, rolling her eyes. "Are you just trying to get me to want to go see them so that we drive to New York?"

"Taking a road trip would be fun," Clarke insisted, grinning.

"You'd think after three months away from someone, you'd get less obsessed."

"Oh shut up," Clarke huffed, crossing her arms.

"I'm just saying, don't start blaming me for stealing your shit just because you haven't been sexed up in three whole months."

"Vulgar much?"

"Horny much?"

"What on earth makes you think I'm horny?" Clarke demanded, furrowing her eyebrows. She knew that her best friend was just trying to distract her from the topic of her necklace, and despite herself, she was letting it work.

"Best friend's intuition?"

"Give me my necklace, Raven," Clarke breathed out, forcing herself back to the topic. "Please? Or at least ask before you wear it. It's special to me."

"Why? You weren't even dating Lexa at that point. Didn't you buy it before you two even kissed?"

Clarke rolled her eyes, but she noticed Raven now digging through her purse. "That's not why it's special. It's not like she bought it for me, anyway. It's from Paris, Rae."

"I know, the place that you went without me and then didn't buy me jack shit from," Raven reminded the blonde, smiling despite her glare. She retrieved the necklace from her purse, and Clarke extended her hand, where the brunette carefully deposited the piece of jewelry.

"Thank you very much."

"Sup, weirdos!" Octavia exclaimed, suddenly, entering the bar. "How's life without me behind the dry wall, Raven?"

"Better," the brunette deadpanned, only to receive a jab of Octavia's elbow as she sat herself down next to Raven. "Bar lady, I need a drink."

"Ha ha," Clarke muttered, rolling her eyes. "I'm not paying for either of your guys' drinks, you know?"

"I'll cover it," Octavia insisted, grinning. "I'm still celebrating moving. Fuck, it feels so good."

"What? Sex with Lincoln twenty-four seven?" Raven asked, smirking at her friend, When Octavia gave her an unamused look, she added, "What? You sounded like you were talking about orgasms."

"Fuck off," Octavia snapped. "No, I meant having a place that feels permanent. Like, not that living with you wasn't great. But living with a friend while you're dating someone else never feels real enough. Like, it's just holding you over until you get somewhere else. I'm sure it's different living alone, but none of us have really experienced that in a pretty long while."

"Yeah," Raven muttered, suddenly seeming quite put off. Clarke frowned.

"How was work, O?"

"Fine," she answered, shrugging. "I mean, as fine as it could be when about six different people at the gym think that it makes perfect sense that if they don't understand how the equipment works, they should definitely just start messing around with it until, whoa!" Her face lit up in mock amazement. "It stops working!"

"You know, I'm glad that I don't have problems like you and Rae do at work," Clarke commented, trying to get a feeling as to how her best friend was feeling. She seemed suddenly very closed off.

"You're damn lucky. All you have to deal with is assholes staring at your tits," Raven muttered.

Clarke's face twisted in disgust. "Ew."

"What?" Octavia asked, amused. "You don't realize that half of your regulars here come to stare at you and wish that they had a life beyond their own, pathetic day to day routine?"

"Of course she wouldn't notice," Raven insisted. "Her mind is constantly swirling with thoughts of Lexa."

"Fuck off," Clarke muttered, her cheeks flushing.

"You guys planning on seeing each other anytime soon?" Octavia's voice was even, as it was every time she spoke to Clarke about Lexa. The blonde was used to it by now – after all, it had mostly been like that since the first time Octavia ever found out about Lexa anyway. Actually, it had gotten worse, so to speak.

"Couple weeks."

"Cool."

The door to the bar opened, and some lifeless looking guy sat down in the middle of the bar, looking desperate for a drink. Turning away from her friends, Clarke went to do her job.

* * *

"I think Rae is upset about something," Clarke said into her phone, sighing.

"Did you ask her about it? You guys talk to each other about literally everything," Lexa replied, sounding like she was focusing. Clarke knew why – her girlfriend had gone on an impromptu photo shoot around Central Park, for whatever reason. Clarke didn't quite get it – Lexa had lived in that goddamn city her whole life. What was there to take pictures of anymore?

But now, she was probably sitting cross legged on her bed, her laptop in front of her and the only source of light in her bedroom. She was probably organizing the pictures into folders. Clarke was pretty sure that the whole laptop was dedicate to photo storage. "I tried, but she just pushes me away. I'm afraid I might've done something to hurt her."

"Like what?" Lexa asked incredulously.

Clarke sighed, her gaze stuck on the unfamiliar ceiling. "I don't know. Maybe I didn't. She got weird... yesterday. When she was trying to get me to unpack. And then when I asked her about it later, she got really weird trying to avoid it. She basically ran away from the conversation, literally. And then today, when Octavia mentioned her moving out with Lincoln."

"Maybe she just misses Octavia?"

"Maybe," Clarke murmured. She let out a breath. "Anyway. How was your photo taking, beautiful?"

"Alright," Lexa answered, sighing. "New York is beautiful, but I've taken these pictures dozens of times."

"What happened to the whole 'once you love a city, you never get tired of it' philosophy?" Clarke asked, slightly amused.

"I don't know," Lexa said, exhaling sadly.

"You should take pictures in DC sometime," Clarke suggested quietly, thinking of what Raven had been trying to push her to do. "It's really nice here."

"I should," Lexa agreed. "It would give me an easy excuse to come see you."

"You don't need an excuse," Clarke said, smiling a small smile. "I'd show you all the sights, though. It'd be like reverse Europe."

"Oh really?" Lexa asked, chuckling.

"Mmhmm," the blonde hummed, unable to fight her grin now. "Plus, I'd even let you take some pictures of me. Assuming that they're cute."

"You're always cute," Lexa insisted, laughing. Clarke smiled and began to say something else, but her words turned into a yawn. "Remind me why you're still awake?"

"Because you are," Clarke murmured, curling further into her blankets and looking away from th ceiling. "Plus, I only got home like half an hour ago. Perks of working a bar."

"I feel like everything at your job is a perk to you," Lexa said, laughing.

Clarke smiled. "Well, maybe not. Rae and O said today that apparently a bunch of the regulars just come in to stare at my tits."

The quiet, but indignant noise that Lexa made caused Clarke to grin. Jealous Lexa was not something she'd ever really seen. "I can't say I blame them, but that definitely doesn't sound like a perk."

Clarke laughed a small chuckle that was bordering on becoming a giggle. "You like my boobs, Lexa?"

"Is that even a question?"

"Do you miss them?"

"I miss you."

"Mm, I miss you too."

"Three months is a long fucking time, Clarke."

"I know."

Lexa sighed. "We should both go to sleep. I have to work in the morning, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to sleep until noon."

"Why not? I don't work until like four."

"Clarke."

"Lexa."

"Seriously," Lexa insisted, laughing and sounding like she was getting comfortable – no longer focusing on her computer. "You should sleep. You're tired."

"Or, I could keep talking to you," Clarke suggested, trying to pretend that she was lying next to Lexa instead of just talking to her over the phone. "Yeah, I think I like that idea."

"You know, Anya says that when you come up here, she wants you to prove that you can make me drink more than wine."

"Tell Anya that she has herself a deal," Clarke said, grinning. "I can't wait to get you drunk."

"You can't."

"Yes I can. I've done it before."

"I wasn't drunk before," Lexa insisted.

Clarke smirked. "Sure you weren't, babe. I'll make you something good, though, I promise. I'll make one for Anya too. She still doesn't think I could be a bartender."

"I can't say I blame her."

Clarke rolled her eyes. "You know that I'm a bartender?"

"But do I really? I know you can make drinks."

"Do you need proof?"

"Maybe."

Clarke felt ridiculous as she smiled into the dark, but she knew that the expression shone through when she spoke. "Fine. I'll wear something super sexy to the bar tomorrow and take a video of me working. Then you have to believe me."

The brunette was silent for a moment. "What do you mean something super sexy?"

"Ooh, you horny, babe?"

"We haven't had sex in three months."

"Yeah."

There was a pause.

"Lexa," Clarke murmured, quiet and shy.

"Yes, Clarke?"

"Do you think we did the right thing?"

"What do you mean? Long distance, as opposed to never talking again?" Lexa asked, and Clarke hesitated. When it was said like that... yeah, it sounded like it was definitely the right thing.

"It's just hard," Clarke muttered, her eyes flickering closed. "I miss you so much. Sometimes it's hard to sleep without you next to me. I never really understood it – how you would wake up just like five minutes after I left the bed. But I get it now. It's hard, when you're used to something. And I'mstill used to it, after three months without it."

"Do you love me?"

"Yes, no question," Clarke answered, sighing.

"And I love you, Clarke. Which is why I know that we did the right thing," Lexa stated. "We just have to work for it. And good things are worth working for, aren't they?"

"Yes."

"You should sleep, baby," Lexa said softly, and Clarke felt herself slipping off into sleep just by hearing her girlfriend's gentle voice. "And don't forget to plug your phone in."

"Mmhmm," Clarke hummed. "Love you, Lexa. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Love you too."

The call ended and Clarke sighed, leaning over to her nightstand and plugging her phone in to her charger.

But once she wasn't talking to Lexa, her mind became too clouded to sleep. She was thinking about Raven, and what was bothering her. And she was thinking about Octavia, always acting so stoic when they talked about Lexa. And she was thinking about her mom still hadn't met her girlfriend. Mostly, though, she couldn't stop thinking and dreading the fact that she couldn't see the point in her future where Lexa would be laying by her side again – every night, without question.


	3. Chapter 3

"Clarke? Raven?" Clarke was woken from her nap on Saturday morning. She'd woken up early to talk to Lexa before she had to go to work – it was unlikely that she would be able to talk to her that night, and they didn't want to miss a day not talking. Then she'd gone back to bed, and now it was nearing noon, she realized.

She dragged herself out of bed and out of her room to the front door, which she opened to see Octavia. "What's up?"

"Is Rae here?"

"No, I think Harper came and dragged her out of here at like nine or something," Clarke answered, running her hand through her hair and hoping that it wasn't completely obvious that she'd been sleeping all morning.

"I'm pretty sure she stole one of my favorite tops. And I have a date with Lincoln tonight, and I want to wear it," Octavia said, huffing and looking away dejectedly.

Clarke smirked – of course Raven would've stolen Octavia's clothes. "Well, come on in and find it," she said, stepping back and letting her friend in. "It's not like you really need an invitation in anyway."

"This isn't my place anymore," Octavia reminded her with amusement.

"Obviously, but I barged in all of the time when this wasn't my place," Clarke refuted, chuckling. Octavia made a beeline for Raven's bedroom, and Clarke followed her, debating whether or not to ask what was on her mind. It had been bothering her the previous night – she'd been trying ti work out what was up with Raven. "Hey, O. Has Raven mentioned anything to you about being mad at me or anything?"

"Why would she be mad at you?"

"I don't know, she's just... I'm almost one hundred percent positive that she's not telling me something."

"What makes you think that?"

"She literally ran from the conversation when I tried to ask her if something was up. She set down her Chinese food, not even half finished, and nearly just left it there to escape," Clarke stated, narrowing her eyes.

"Okay, yeah, that's weird," Octavia agreed. "But I'm sure she's not mad at you. That girl could never be mad at you. Maybe she just doesn't feel like talking to you about something."

"That doesn't just happen, Octavia. If she she's keeping something from me, it means she's mad at me."

"Haven't you kept things from her?"

Clarke scoffed, crossing her arms. "No."

Octavia turned her head, her eyebrow lifting in a perfect arc, and Clarke braced herself for whatever her friend was about to bring up. "How about when you were running around Europe, and wouldn't tell us where the fuck you were besides the fact that you weren't in London anymore? And how even when you finally told us where you were when you were in fucking Belgium, you still didn't mention that you were following some random photographer around Europe?"

"O, that's different. I was going through something major."

"Maybe Raven is going through something major too," Octavia said, finally procuring her shirt fro Raven's closet.

"I'm going to talk to her again," Clarke muttered.

"Maybe you should just let her talk to you when she's ready to talk to you," Octavia suggested, her tone lightening up a bit now.

"Whatever," Clarke breathed out. "Have fun on your date later."

"See you," Octavia said, realizing that she'd crossed the line. They were both used to this by now – sometimes it was just hard for them to have conversations without it becoming difficult. Clarke leaned against Raven's wall until she heard the front door close, and then she let out a breath.

Octavia had a point.

But she was practically losing sleep over this now – she couldn't handle the thought that Raven might be really mad at her. It had been hard when she came back from Europe. Raven had been putting up such a good front, but two days after Clarke coming back, when she was sleeping on her friends' couch, she heard crying from her best friend's room. She'd gone in, of course, and Raven hadn't said anything. She'd just cried.

Clarke knew that despite everything her best friend had said, she'd hurt her by going away in the spur of a moment for what ended up being three weeks. But the past three months had been fine, after that had passed. Raven hadn't ever seemed mad at her, or frustrated about what had happened. She hadn't been averse to Clarke dating Lexa, even though that was what had essentially kept them apart for so long.

Clarke really just needed to know if Raven was mad at her. Then, maybe she could calm down.

* * *

 **From My Hot Photographer – I miss you. Work sucks.**

 **To My Hot Photographer – Work does suck.**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Aren't you at work right now?**

 **To My Hot Photographer – No, I worked for a few hours and then took off. I probably shouldn't be taking off so many Saturdays in a row, but Wick gets it. Especially when I mentioned that tonight I'm hanging out with Raven. He's totally pining for her.**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Don't get fired. Are you going to ask Raven about what's been bothering her?**

 **To My Hot Photographer – Maybe. I really don't care, as long as she's not mad at me. I just want to make sure she isn't mad at me. :(**

 **To My Hot Photographer – Aren't YOU at work right now?**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Yes. I sneaked out so I could text you. I won't be home until possibly midnight or so. I get off at ten, but Anya is insisting that I go out for drinks with her afterward.**

 **To My Hot Photographer – And by drinks, does she mean that she's gonna drink liquor and you're gonna sip wine? XD**

 **From My Hot Photographer – You know me so well. 3 I gotta go. Love you, have fun with Raven!**

 **To My Hot Photographer – I love you too. Xx**

* * *

"What are you doing tonight?" Clarke exclaimed, hopping onto her best friend's bed and looking over at where the brunette was sitting at her desk, turning her head to raise an eyebrow at the blonde's random appearance.

"I don't know. Why aren't you at work?"

"Took off, we're having a movie night," Clarke declared. "Unless you have something better to do?"

Raven grinned. "Of course I don't."

"So, what do you want to eat?" the blonde asked, smiling softly at her friend. "Chinese?"

"Pizza," Raven answered, nodding surely. Clarke nodded her consent.

"Cool, I'll go order it. Meet you on the couch in five," she said, smiling widely at her friend. She knew, as she made her way to her room to grab her phone and order pizza, that Raven would go about picking tons of movies.

When she emerged from her bedroom five minutes later, though, pizza ordered, Raven wasn't on the couch. Clarke frowned and went to her bedroom. "Rae?"

"What?" Raven asked, glancing up from where it seemed that she'd been staring down at her hands.

"You haven't grabbed any movies?"

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. Let's just troll Netflix," Raven offered halfheartedly. She hopped up from her desk, seeming now like she was trying to fake enthusiasm. Clarke watched her, jaw dropped slightly, as she made her way out into the living room.

Clarke followed her a second later and huffed. "Okay, Reyes, sit down. We're talking."

Raven, who had just sat down anyway, looked up with suspicion. "Why? What's up?"

"Don't ask me what's up like you don't already know," Clarke muttered, unable to avoid sounding hurt. "Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Raven asked, looking surprised. "I would tell you if you'd done anything to even frustrate me, C. You know that. We tell each other everything."

Clarke felt relieved at hearing that – but she was still slightly upset. There had to be something that Raven wasn't telling her. "So how come you've been so gloomy? I tried to ask you last weekend, and you didn't answer."

"It's nothing," Raven said quickly, shaking her head. "Seriously, let's just watch Netflix and cuddle, like the old days."

"It's not nothing if it's making you this closed off, Rae," Clarke insisted, going to sit next to her friend in hopes to make it more personal. She sat with her legs crossed, facing Raven completely, even though the brunette was sitting normally on the couch.

"It's really not that important... really, it's just stupid."

"Nothing that you're feeling could be stupid."

Raven rolled her eyes, and Clarke thought that she caught sight of something like maybe the start of a tear. She didn't see Raven cry often, but when she did, it was utterly painful. "Babe, what's wrong?" Clarke asked softly, her hand lifting to carefully brush hair out of Raven's face.

"I'm mad at me, and life," Raven huffed, angry sounding all of the sudden. "Because I'm so behind."

Clarke dropped her hand, furrowing her eyebrows. "Behind how? What do you mean?"

"I mean... it's complicated, Clarke."

"So explain it."

Raven let out a long breath. "Okay, so. Octavia. She's with Lincoln now, which is totally cool and I'm glad she's happy. She's got a job at the gym, which she loves and she makes decent money and now she's living with her boyfriend. They both know deep down, whether they've said it or not, that they're going to have their happily ever after. How couldn't they? They've been obsessed with each other for far too long for it to mean nothing, anyway."

"Okay..." Clarke wasn't sure that she quite understood.

"Everyone I know is having this same sort of trend of things going on in their life. Jasper has been dating that girl Maya for like two months, they're happy. Monty's got his nerd electronic store that's his baby. Harper's dating that super cool guy who she actually really likes, by the way. And... I'mnot there."

"I'm not sure I'm really following, Raven..."

"Four months ago, a year ago, whatever, you were dating Finn and you guys lived together and you had this amazing job that you loved, right?"

Clarke squirmed a little uncomfortably at the mention of Finn. "Right."

"And at that point, it didn't bother me. That you were 'ahead'. You deserve to be happy, and I'm so glad that you love your job – even still. And when you broke up with Finn, it wasn't like I was happy that you were sort of... back where I was. But I wasn't expecting you to bounce back so quickly, and I wasn't expecting everyone else to do it at the same time," Raven said, and Clarke was starting to work out what she meant.

"Wait... you're not behind any of us, Raven. Just because we're in relationships doesn't mean –"

"It's not just the relationship thing, C." Raven took in a deep breath. "Yes, you all have awesome relationships, or are getting there, or whatever. But you also are all working at places you love, doing what you love. You have plans ahead of you... and I'm just sitting here, without anyone, and without anything that I love to do. Sure, I love computers and my job would be great if I didn't work for this stupid fucking law firm. And yeah, I make decent money and I could support myself just fine, but it isn't enough. It's been like that for all of us. But now everyone's reaching the point where their life is moving forward, and mine isn't. You all have it perfect." Dull, brown eyes fell down to look at her lap.

Clarke might've taken offense of some sort by the bitterness that she heard in her best friend's voice, but her chest ached too much. "Rae." Raven didn't look up. "Raven." Finally. "My life is far from perfect. My job is great, yeah, but I barely make enough money to support myself. That's why I live with you. And Lexa and I aren't perfect by any means. For fuck's sake – we live four hours away from each other."

"But that's not your forever, Clarke," Raven said, her voice quiet and shaky, but pained. "You know that one of you is going to get up and move to the other. And you're going to move out of here one day, and live with her, and then it won't matter how much money you make, because Lexa's got boatloads of cash and a job as well. And you'll still be doing what you love – even if you move, you'll get to bar tend somewhere because you're fucking brilliant. I don't have that, Clarke. I don't know what my forever is."

"Neither do I," Clarke said firmly, her hand falling onto her best friend's wrist. "You might think it all fits together and makes sense, but I have no idea what's going to happen with me and Lexa. Yeah, we love each other, and the thought of being without her makes me feel like throwing up... but right now and for however long, we're living apart. And it sucks. But like you said, that's not my forever. I don't know what forever holds for me, but something's going to change. And it's the same for you. This stage of your life isn't your forever just because other people have moved past it."

Raven exhaled, seeming like she was trying to get her wits about her, but it was just shaky and broken and made Clarke frown deeper. "Clarke, I haven't dated anyone since freshman year of college. That was over four years ago," Raven murmured, wiping at her face even though not a single tear had fallen. "And I've been working at this law firm for what... a little over a year now? They haven't given me a single raise or bonus even though I do fucking everything for them. But the thing is, I don't know where else I could work where I would get to do as much as I do without some asshole breathing down my neck the whole time. This is all I have."

"Stop it, Raven," Clarke snapped, a little too firmly, but her voice immediately softened as she continued with, "you have me. And you have Octavia, and all of our friends. You'll always have us, whether or not you think we're ahead or whatever. Which we're not. We're all in this transition, Raven."

The brunette sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know, Clarke. I'm just... it sucks. I feel like I'm going to be left behind. And I hate that one of the things that bothers me the most is that one day you'll move out of here. Because I love you and I want you to have everything you deserve – you're my best friend, and I know that whether you believe it or not, you're eventually moving out of this apartment to move in with Lexa. Whether you move all the way to New York or to an apartment building three blocks away, it's going to happen. And I hate that thought, which isn't fair to you or Lexa or even to me. Because I shouldn't be so dependent on one person, but I just... I don't have anyone else."

"You'll always have me, Raven," Clarke promised. "Whether or not I'm here, or touring Europe, or living with Lexa somewhere else one day. And you also have Octavia. And my family – err, I guess that's just my mom really – she loves you. Your family is all of us. Whether you like it or not."

"You're right," Raven murmured in a sigh. "Yeah, you're right. Let's watch movies now. I hate feeling this fucking depressing."

"Sounds good."

* * *

"Please tell me that you didn't stay up just to call me," Lexa said, causing Clarke to smile softly into the darkness.

"No, Rae and I just finished our movie night. I finally got her to talk to me. Turns out that she feels like she's being left behind – because Octavia and I both have jobs we love and well... people we love," Clarke explained, sighing. "I don't know how to make her feel any less insecure about that."

"I don't know either," Lexa said, sounding at a loss.

"Well, she's my best friend. You don't have to deal with her," Clarke teased lightly, smiling. "I'm hoping that she'll just realize soon that she's not behind. Or that she'll get a better job or meet someone or something... I feel like she just needs a change in her life."

"Don't you owe her a Europe trip?"

"Ha ha," Clarke said, rolling her eyes. "Don't mention that to her, I don't need you guys ganging up on me about that. I'm broke as fuck."

"You're not," Lexa deadpanned. "You took off work last Saturday, and today, and you're doing it again next Saturday. Don't pretend."

"Okay, maybe I'm just broke as shit then," Clarke teased. "Anyway, whatever extra money I have is going into me visiting you in New York next weekend, so don't go getting me to spend it on taking Rae to Europe."

"You couldn't give her a tour of Europe like I gave you," Lexa stated. "You'd get lost."

"Probably. Ugh. I miss it," Clarke murmured, sighing.

"Europe?"

"You," Clarke answered, "and Europe. But mostly because Europe meant being with you all the fucking time. I miss you."

"I miss you too, baby."

"I don't just miss you though," Clarke murmured, her eyes flickering closed. "I miss you sleeping next to me, and waking up before you after you went to bed super late to find that you remembered to close the curtains or plug in my phone. I miss you wrapping your arms around me and kissing me. And I miss you on top of me."

"Mm," Lexa hummed. "Yeah?"

"Fuck yes," Clarke breathed out, hardly surprised at how horny she felt all of the sudden. Despite the fact that she was horny just from going so long without sex and with only the occasional masturbating, Raven had insisted that they watch a movie about two characters with such sexual tension that anyone watching could feel it. And in the end, they'd had sex, and here Clarke was all alone and horny with her girlfriend only on the phone. "I miss you on top of me with her lips on my neck and on my chest and also when your head is between my legs."

"Fuck," Lexa breathed out, and the blonde felt heat pool between her legs.

"What are you imagining?" Clarke asked, her curiosity peeking slightly.

"What it would be like if you were in bed with me right now. I just got out of the shower, but I couldn't really care less. Your body would be mine if you were here."

Clarke just about moaned at hearing the possessiveness in her girlfriend's voice. "Are you naked?"

"Mmhmm," Lexa hummed out her confirmation, and Clarke could easily picture her naked girlfriend in that huge, comfy bed of hers.

"What exactly would you do if I was there?"

"First, I would pin you down on my bed," Lexa described, her voice low and filled with determination. "You'd be naked, of course."

"Gimme a sec," Clarke murmured. She quickly rid herself of the meager clothing she'd been wearing, and then she picked her phone up again. "Okay. Then what?"

"I would kiss you and my hands would drag up and down your soft skin, and I would graze them over your boobs because I know it would drive you crazy," Lexa continued, and Clarke had to drop her phone next to her ear in order to allow her hands to do what Lexa was describing. "But I'd be too impatient to just touch, so I'd scoot down and wrap my lips around your nipples – one at a time – and make you groan and moan and your whole body would tense."

Clarke's fingers were playing with her own nipples now, not near as nice as the feeling of Lexa's lips on them, but her girlfriend's voice in her ear made it seem more real. Her body did begin to tense, and she squeezed her thighs together. "You're right," she moaned into the phone.

"And by now, your legs would be all squeezed together trying to get friction, and I'd push them apart with my thigh. And because I'm impatient to hear you scream my name, I'd touch you without hesitation."

Clarke's fingers came in contact with her possibly embarrassingly wet center, moaning as she touched her clit, which seemed to be aching for friction. "Fuck," Clarke groaned, "I'm so wet, Lexa."

"Mm, I'd tease you a little bit, because you moan a lot when I do," Lexa said, her voice quieter now but also lower, and Clarke could practically see her eyes – stunningly green as usual, but also dark and needy with arousal. Clarke dragged her fingers against herself teasingly, barely resisting the urge to just let herself feel release. The moan she let out was slightly loud, but she couldn't help it. She missed Lexa, and this was as close to sex as she could have with her. "But then I would finally enter you, just two fingers, and I'd hit that spot that always makes you get so close to coming."

Clarke hit her spot and moaned desperately. "Fuck, Lexa. It feels so good."

"I'd hit it again, and at the same time, my mouth would still be on your chest and all of your body would be burning for me." Clarke's right hand was on her chest now, her left still buried between her legs, as her phone rested next to her ear. Lexa guided her left hand with her voice for the next minute or so, and then Clarke felt herself finally coming, and her voice caught in her throat for half a second as she cried out her girlfriend's name.

"Fuck," she breathed out, once she felt her body relaxing again.

There was suddenly a banging against the wall. "Shut the fuck up, Clarke, I don't want to hear your fucking phone sex!"

"Fuck." Clarke exhaled again, ignoring her best friend. "That was so good, babe."

"Happy to help," Lexa singsonged slightly in her still low voice.

"Fuck I'm so tired," Clarke murmured. "I wanna help you come too."

"It's okay," Lexa insisted. "You can make me come next weekend, when you're here with me. And I'll do all that to you as well, myself."

"I can't wait," Clarke practically moaned out. "I miss you so much." She eased her fingers out of herself and dropped her hand uselessly next to her. "And I love you."

"I love you too, Clarke. Are you working tomorrow?"

"I probably will," Clarke murmured, "to make up for tonight. You're working all day again tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," Lexa answered, sounding slightly deflated. "But I'll be able to call you around ten tomorrow night."

"I might be at work then, but I'll pick up. And I will be expecting your call, so don't avoid it just to keep me from answering during work," Clarke said lightly, smiling. She felt herself slipping off into dreamland, and she was pretty sure that Lexa noticed as well.

"Go to sleep, beautiful. I love you."

"Love you too..."

"Plug your phone in."

"Mkay. Bye."

The line ended, and Clarke forced her sleepy self to lean over and plug her phone into its charger, before curling into herself and her blankets and drifting to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ew! You're naked!" Clarke heard, forcing her to peel her eyes open. Her gaze focused across the room, on her best friend. Raven was standing in her doorway, wearing an expression of fabricated disgust. This was not the first time that Raven had seen Clarke naked.

The blonde was actually surprised that she wasn't under the blankets. She was freezing. "Mmhmm."

"I swear, if I hadn't heard you calling out your girlfriend's name last night, I would've thought that someone was actually in here with you," Raven teased. "Phone sex really that good?"

"Leave me alone," Clarke whined. "Your stupid movie choice made me really horny."

"Yeah, that's what made you horny. You and Lexa better spend a whole day rolling around in her big, expensive New York bed next weekend."

"That sounds nice," Clarke murmured. "Why are you waking me up?"

"Oh, no reason. Good morning!" Raven chimed, grinning teasingly. The blonde huffed, picking up her pillow and covering her face with it. "No but really, you should go into work today. I feel like a drink anyway. And you know that you're the only bartender I drink from."

"That's not true," Clarke muttered, pushing the pillow away now as she sat up and searched the ground for her discarded pajamas.

"Yeah, it is."

"How about when I was in Europe? When you let that creepy asshole serve you drinks?"

"I was desperate," Raven claimed. "Anyway. You missed work yesterday because of me, and I feel bad. So you go into work, I'll buy a drink from you, and then we'll be even. Oh, and I'll give you your Paris necklace back."

Clarke looked up at her friend, pausing her task of getting dressed. "Wait, you have it again?"

"You never wear it, Griffin! I wore it when I went Harper and I went to the mall yesterday," Raven explained, digging her hand into her pocket and producing the necklace. "It's really cute. You have good taste."

"Thanks," Clarke deadpanned dryly, finishing putting her clothes on and then grabbing the piece of jewelry. "I'll go into work today. But that doesn't really mean you need to wake me up at eight in the morning."

"I know," Raven said, smiling widely, "but I woke up early for some reason, and I can't just hang around this place by myself. And it's nine, not eight."

"Can you at least make something for breakfast?"

"You got it, roomie!" Raven agreed, grinning and then turning and leaving Clarke's room. The blonde sighed in relief and then stripped off her clothes – again. She needed a shower.

* * *

"Octavia!" Raven exclaimed excitedly as she and Clarke both noticed their friend entering the bar. Behind her was the whole gang – Lincoln, Bellamy, Jasper, Monty and Harper. "Whoa, and everyone else . Were we planning Clarke's intervention today or something?"

"What?" Clarke demanded, furrowing her eyebrows.

"She's bluffing," Monty called, rolling his eyes. The six new arrivals crowded around Raven at the bar, and Clarke didn't even have to ask them for their drink orders.

"Thought you didn't work Sundays, C?" Bellamy asked, tilting his head and looking pointedly at her.

"I usually don't," Clarke answered, shrugging and passing him a beer. He nodded his thanks. "But I took off yesterday, so. And I'm taking off next weekend too."

"Why are you taking off next weekend?" Jasper asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "I was gonna say that we should all hang out next Saturday."

"We'll have to rain check," Clarke said, frowning. However, she was hardly upset about delaying hanging out with her friends. After all, she could hang out with them any day of any week. Lexa was different. "I'm going to New York."

"Sex party weekend," Raven offered as explanation, and Clarke rolled her eyes, aware that her cheeks were flushing. She'd gotten better about not blushing a lot when Raven mentioned her sex life, but anytime other people were around, she basically turned into a tomato.

"No," Clarke argued, shaking her head. "I still haven't seen Lexa's exhibit with all of her pictures in Europe."

"Okay, that and the sex party weekend."

"That's cool," Lincoln commented, though his girlfriend was standing next to him with pursed lips. Clarke tried to ignore the look, sliding her friend the drink that she usually ordered. Octavia took it with a silent nod of thanks. "You should take pictures of the exhibit if you can."

"I'll see," Clarke agreed, smiling.

"So, rain check for the next weekend then?" Jasper asked. "Since you've gotta go see your oh so special girlfriend?" The sarcasm in his voice was, of course, teasing.

"Hey, not all of us can be so lucky to live next door to our significant other," Clarke commented, rolling her eyes at him. He'd been crushing on his neighbor, Maya, for about three months before finally asking her out. "And yeah, that should probably work. Though, I will have work..."

"That's fine, we'll start the party here then," Harper offered, grinning.

"It's not a party if I'm serving you guys drinks," Clarke huffed, passing Jasper and Monty their drinks.

"Sure it is," Jasper piped up, "just not for you."

"I'm pretty sure that defeats the purpose, dimwit," Raven said, smacking Jasper playfully on the back of his head. "If Clarke can't party, I'm not partying."

"Whipped as fuck," Bellamy teased, grinning as he took a sip from his beer.

"I'm trying to be a supportive best friend," Raven defended, narrowing her eyes. "And you know who's really whipped is Lexa, because last night –"

"Raven!" Clarke exclaimed, her eyes widening with alarm. Raven broke out into loud laughter, clearly not planning on actually describing what had happened the previous night. Everyone else just looked between the two with curiosity, and even though Raven hadn't finished her story, Clarke's beet red face probably gave her away. "You guys are seriously ridiculous." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone trying to hail her from the other side of the bar. "Back in a bit."

* * *

"You won't get lost, will you?" Lexa asked, smiling a little to herself as she thought of Clarke coming up to see her. She was honestly beyond excited.

"No, I have GPS in my car," Clarke insisted, Lexa smirking slightly as she made her way through the parking garage below her building. "I'm more concerned about where the fuck I'm going to leave my car when I get there."

"There's a pay to park garage pretty close to here," Lexa promised. "I'll cover it."

"I can pay for it, Lexa."

"You're already paying for gas, Clarke," Lexa reminded her, smiling a little as she located her car. "Plus, you're my guest, and since I don't have an extra parking space for you, I'll pay for it. Prices are ridiculous anyway."

"Fine," the blonde agreed, and Lexa grinned widely.

"I'm so embarrassingly excited for you to get here."

The laugh she heard from the other end of the line made her heart skip a beat. "It's not embarrassing to be excited to see me. After all, I am pretty amazing." Lexa hummed in agreement, unlocking her car and climbing inside. "So, you off to work?"

"Yeah," Lexa confirmed, sighing. "But luckily, I get off early today. I'm going to stop by the gallery and hang there for a while. I'm kind of trying to get the owner there to ask me to take more pictures. I could really use an excuse to take a couple of weeks off from the museum again."

"You better not go anywhere amazing without me," Clarke threatened playfully, and Lexa smiled despite herself.

"Then how would I be able to take you later and be the expert tour guide?" Lexa teased.

"Mm. Valid. But still. I miss you."

"Me too," Lexa said softly.

"Ah, damn it, Raven's banging on my door. I gotta go. Have a good day, babe! Love you!"

Lexa sighed, not sure if she sounded happy or sad as she did so. "You too, Clarke, and I love you too."

The line ended, and Lexa buckled herself into her car and began to pull it out of her parking space. She was really missing Clarke lately. Almost everything she did reminded her of the beautiful blonde. She saw her blue eyes in the sky and her blonde hair in a flash everywhere she went. It was excruciating sometimes, just needing her and not having her. Lexa was desperate by now.

Anya kept insisting that she should ask Clarke to move to New York, but Lexa kept knowing better and better that it would never happen. Or perhaps it could one day, but not right now, not in the stage of life that Clarke was in. She was dependent on her friends. Lexa wouldn't be the one to take her away from that.

Speaking of Anya, Lexa's car Bluetooth suddenly began to ring with her best friend's number. She answered it quickly. "I'm on my way to work, what's up?"

"Making sure you were awake," Anya admitted, "because I texted you and you didn't answer."

"I was on the phone with Clarke," Lexa justified. "Something you need?"

"Yeah, just to warn you that your ex girlfriend is single and prowling," Anya answered, laughing despite what the statement implied. Lexa narrowed her eyes, trying to keep full attention on the road anyway.

"Costia?"

"Obviously," Anya answered. "Do you have any other exes that I don't know about?"

"No. What do you mean she's prowling?"

"I mean, that I heard through the grapevine that she's interested in you."

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Of course she would be – three years after cheating on me, never apologizing for it, and right as I'm dating someone who is way fucking better than her."

"Hey, I just wanted to warn you, don't bite my head off," Anya insisted. "I just wanted you to know, because I know your bae is coming to the city this weekend."

"Did you just say my bae? You're starting to sound like Clarke's friends, and you haven't even spoken to them."

"Maybe you're just behind in the times, Lex," Anya suggested, laughing. "Oh by the way, Luna, Tristan and I are crashing your place Saturday night. Not all night, but they want to meet Clarke and I want to watch her get you drunk on real drinks for once."

"That's not going to happen," Lexa denied, rolling her eyes.

"You say that now."

"Yes, and it will hold true this weekend as well."

"But sex is so fun when you're drunk. Don't you want to get drunk with her and correctly christen your apartment?"

Lexa scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You're so gross."

"Oh come on, you know it's going to happen," Anya teased. "You guys had sex in your kitchen the last time she was here – and I had to witness it."

Lexa flushed. "Well, I told you not to come over that day."

"You could've added a little note that was like 'Hey, Anya, I'm going to fuck my girlfriend all over my kitchen, so please don't walk in, or you'll see my whole naked ass and also my hot naked girlfriend!'."

"That was the underlying message," Lexa deadpanned. "Anyway, we didn't get to finish having sex in the kitchen."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was like five seconds too early, I got it. I'm pretty sure you spent that whole weekend yelling at me," Anya said, laughing. "But that's why you have to do it this weekend."

"Why are we discussing sex, Anya? I'm going to have sex with her in my apartment whether I drink or not. And contrary to what you seem to think, drunk sex is not any better than sober sex. Even if it feels better in the moment, you can barely remember it the next day. Plus, we'd be hungover. Where's the fun in that?"

"Ah, fuck you, I'll get Clarke to get you to drink."

"I'll just barricade my door once Clarke gets here. That way none of you can come in at all."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Anya teased. "You're probably almost at work, I'll let you go. See you, Lex!"

* * *

"Shouldn't you be on your way to Miss Perfect?"

The question drew Clarke's attention up from the drink she was making for a customer, her gaze landing on Bellamy. She smiled at him. "Soon. Had to squeeze in a shift. I'm leaving at around eleven and driving the whole way up there without stopping."

"You're driving all night?"

"Lexa's gonna stay up and wait for me," Clarke insisted, though she was pretty sure that her girlfriend would eventually fall asleep. Which is why the brunette had ensured that, just in case, a key would be tucked under the doormat. The blonde was almost certain that she was going to have to use it. "I'll be fine."

"I mean, why not just go in the morning?"

Clarke handed the drink she'd just made over to her customer, who grunted his thanks, and then looked back to Bellamy. "Then I have to waste four hours of my Saturday that I could be spending with Lexa. I wouldn't expect you to get it," she said, rolling her eyes playfully.

He sighed. "I don't get how you do that. Have a long distance relationship. How do you get used to that?"

"You really don't," Clarke admitted, exhaling. "You want a beer?"

"No, I'm okay," he insisted, shaking his head. "Octavia's held up at work and so is Lincoln, so she wanted me to tell you before you were on the road that she's sorry for saying whatever she said about Europe."

"I'm not mad at her," Clarke stated, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Of course you're not," Bellamy said, smirking. "You two fight all the time and somehow never get mad at each other. I guess she just wanted to make sure you knew. I think everyone's a little low key terrified that you'll stay away for three weeks once you leave."

"Trust me, no," Clarke insisted, chuckling. "I have to be back at work on Monday."

"Is that what's holding you here?" Bellamy asked. He seemed deflated, far less light and happy than usual. "Your job?"

"You guys are too," Clarke rushed out, aware that it may have sounded like she didn't care about her friends. "Obviously. That is a given. Plus, I... I couldn't move to New York. That would be... crazy."

"Crazy like taking a three day vacation to London and staying instead for three weeks and falling in love with some random photographer?"

Clarke laughed – it was easier to laugh about how crazy it was than to think about it. She cleared her throat afterward, though, and said seriously, "I know that none of you can really understand, Bell, but you should really try to. I love Lexa. I couldn't break up with her just because she lives four hours north of here."

"It just seems like you're heading for disaster," the guy said quietly, his voice laced with concern. "And I feel like if you get hurt by Lexa, you're going to be even worse than after Finn. And who knows what you'll do then?"

Clarke pursed her lips. Having it explained like that, Clarke could understand why her friends were so concerned with her long distance relationship. Breaking up with Finn had thrown her into a state of unmotivated wallowing. The only thing that had broken her out of it was her spontaneous decision to go to Europe. If she were to lose Lexa, it could be worse.

But Clarke was confident that she wouldn't lose her girlfriend. "I get it, Bell. But I love Lexa more than I ever could've loved Finn. And I trust her with my heart. If I didn't, I wouldn't be in this relationship with her."

He nodded. "I guess I should just trust your judgment then. We all just... we're worried about you. We don't want things to get bad again."

"Neither do I," Clarke promised, "and Lexa loves me. One day we'll end up living together, somewhere, and it'll be... incredible. But for now, we've accepted what we're stuck with."

Accepted it, yes. But the more her friends brought it up, the more Clarke felt like she shouldn't be stuck with this distance between her and her girlfriend.

She practically watched the clock throughout the rest of her shift, waiting for it to tell her that her shift was over and she could leave and drive to New York, and pretend that everything was perfect again.


	5. Chapter 5

Clarke hadn't taken a road trip since the one with Lexa from New York three months prior, and before that, it had been years since her last road trip. Still, it felt natural. She stopped only once – to buy herself some candy. It was late, and she'd worked all afternoon, so the sugar boost was helpful. Lexa had insisted that it would be okay for her to just come in the morning, rather than drive so late at night, but Clarke was determined.

Even though it didn't bother her to drive, and it didn't feel weird, being alone did. Clarke was hardly ever completely alone. And she'd never driven more than an hour by herself. It felt lonely, even though she knew that her destination would steal away that feeling in a second.

Raven had worked late – and had come by the bar only briefly to say goodbye, because she'd been so tired. That was why Clarke didn't call her. She didn't call Lexa while she drove because, while the brunette insisted that she would stay awake, Clarke knew better. Octavia was with Lincoln, and she was sure that none of her other friends would feel like talking to her for four hours as she drove until three in the morning.

So she drove completely by herself, occasionally tossing a few gummy bears into her mouth, as music played and she forced herself to stay awake and aware. When she had told her mom she was driving this late for this long by herself, she'd received a strong scolding with the underlying message of "I lost your dad in a car accident, don't be stupid and get into one too.". Clarke knew that her mom was concerned about that, but she was confident about her driving abilities even at night. She was mostly worried about finding her way to the address that she had scrawled onto a little piece of paper that was now resting on her dash.

When she found herself driving into the city, she turned on her GPS and punched in the address, deciding that trying to find it by herself would be not only stupid, but take an excessive amount of time to do. It began to speak to her in an even voice, telling her where and when to turn, and soon enough, she was driving along a street and saw the building that she had stayed in while she was in New York before – Lexa's building. Her chest filled with the excitement that came with seeing her girlfriend for the first time in three months.

Then she remembered the matter of parking, and she huffed as she glanced at the second address that she had written down as per Lexa's request. It seemed to just be up the street, but Clarke had to turn around the block to find the parking garage.

Walking from the parking garage to Lexa's apartment at three-thirty in the morning was slightly terrifying, but she walked fast and with purpose, even as she dragged her one, small suitcase behind her, and luckily ran into no sketchy characters. She let herself into the warm apartment building. It wasn't much of a different temperature than Clarke imagined New York would be during the day – seeing as it was summer now.

Clarke was happy that she remembered which apartment was Lexa's, because her girlfriend had conveniently forgotten to mention it. She found the door and crouched in front of it, grabbing the key hidden under the mat. Silent, she unlocked the door and walked into the room. It was familiar, but at the same time, not. She'd spent two and a half days, if even that, in New York. But it was just so Lexa, and Lexa was familiar.

The living area and kitchen were both clean, as well as the little table that was between them, with four chairs tucked neatly under it. Clarke shed the jacket she was wearing and left her little suitcase by the table. Still trying to be as quiet as possible, she slid off her shoes and went to Lexa's bedroom door. It creaked a little as she nudged it open, and she was greeted by an adorable sight. The light in the room was on, as was Lexa's laptop. The girl had clearly tried to stay awake, but she was curled up in front of the computer, the screen of which was dimmed and clearly about to shut off. Lexa was passed out. She was wearing her NYU hoodie and short shorts, and Clarke felt a smile appear on her face easily. She carefully made her way to Lexa's closet, grabbing random comfy clothes to sleep in, and then changed before going to the bed and closing the laptop, moving it to the nightstand. Then she padded softly back into the living area where she'd left her bag and grabbed her phone charger.

Back in Lexa's bedroom, Clarke shut the light off and went to the side of the bed that Lexa was not asleep on. As she plugged in her phone, she sent a group text message.

 **To Rae Bae, Octapussy, and Mom – Made it to Lexa's. See you guys Sunday night!**

She set her phone quietly on the nightstand and then gently pulled the covers of the bed out from under Lexa. The brunette began to stir slightly and by the time that Clarke was laying next to her, blankets over both of them, green eyes were opening sleepily. "Hi," Lexa's tired voice murmured, her eyes lighting up instantly despite how sleepy she was.

"Hey," Clarke murmured. "I didn't mean to wake you up. Normally it's when I leave the bed that you wake up."

"I missed you," Lexa said quietly, and Clarke wasn't sure whether or not the tears that she thought she saw lingering in her girlfriend's eyes were just her imagination. Suddenly, Lexa's arms were wrapped around her, holding her close like she might disappear.

"Me too, babe," Clarke whispered, hugging her tightly. "But you should go back to sleep. When did you doze off?"

"I don't know," Lexa admitted, pulling away a little. "And you're telling me to sleep? You've been driving for four hours."

"True," Clarke said, smiling. "So let's both sleep."

Lexa didn't have to be asked twice, and they curled into each other completely and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Clarke peeled her eyes open against the bright light shining into the room from Lexa's window. The second half of the bed was empty, she realized, and a pout immediately came to her face. "Lexa?"

"I'm in here," Lexa called from the bathroom, poking her head out. "I figured I wouldn't wake you up. You drove a lot last night."

"I'll be fine," Clarke insisted, smiling and sitting up. "If I sleep in forever, it defeats the purpose of driving last night instead of this morning."

"True," Lexa agreed, smiling sweetly. "It's so nice to see you in my bed."

"Oh really?"

"Mmhmm. I kinda want you to stay there forever."

Clarke laughed, a sound that was nearly a giggle. "I'll stay here for two days straight if that's close enough. You'll have to bring me food though."

"Deal," Lexa said, smiling cheekily, "I'll just grab Subway since I know what you like there."

"Subway for breakfast, lunch and dinner?" Clarke asked, raising her eyebrow in amusement.

"You said I had to bring you food. You didn't specify, and Subway is close."

Clarke chuckled. "Well, I guess I'm good with whatever. Your bed is so comfy." Lexa disappeared back into the bathroom, but the door was left wide open so that they could still talk. "I might steal it."

"You're gonna shove it into your little car and bring it back to DC?"

"You haven't ever seen my car," Clarke huffed out, fighting a grin.

"But I know that it's not any bigger than mine," Lexa called back. "Anyway, you can't steal it. I need to sleep on it."

"You can sleep on the couch," Clarke insisted, "it's comfy too."

"So steal the couch."

Clarke smiled softly, laying flat on her stomach across the bed – backwards. Then she flipped over, staring at the ceiling. "What are we doing today?"

"Well," Lexa started, "my plan was actually to keep you in my bed all day."

Clarke felt her cheeks redden as her body woke up from the implication of the statement. "But?" There had to be a but, or else Lexa would already be on top of her.

"Anya is apparently coming over in a few hours. With a few of my other friends," Lexa answered. "They wanted to come over tonight, but I figured it would make more sense for them to come earlier, that way we can kick them out when we want them to leave and we can have all night together."

"Mm." Clarke smiled. "Sounds good to me."

"Also, under no circumstances, no matter what Anya says or does or brings, you cannot make me drink anything. I'm trying to prove to Anya that you can't get me drunk."

Clarke let out a loud, bright laugh. "But I can get you drunk."

"No, you can't," Lexa insisted, scoffing as she came back into the bedroom. Clarke rolled back over onto her stomach to look at the brunette.

"Wanna bet?" Clarke asked, batting her eyelashes cutely at her girlfriend.

"I don't want to be drunk tonight," Lexa said pointedly, frowning.

"How about just tipsy?" Clarke asked, grinning.

The brunette rolled her eyes, but a smile was peeking at her lips. "Whatever." Lexa moved to her closet, stripping off her shirt so suddenly that Clarke felt her mouth dry instantly.

"Ugh, are you really gonna make me wait until tonight?" Clarke murmured, resting her chin on her hands as her eyes darkened, looking up and down Lexa's body.

The brunette looked over her shoulder, smirking. "I guess we have a few hours..." Before Clarke could think to say anything, she was sitting up on her knees involuntarily to meet Lexa's lips in a searing kiss. It was a kiss of desperation – oozing in the knowledge that these kisses were limited for now. Clarke heard herself moan against her girlfriend's plump lips, and felt herself being pushed backwards and finally onto Lexa's soft pillows.

Lexa's tongue delved in between her lips, reclaiming the territory that it had been deprived of for months. Clarke reveled in the feeling of Lexa straddling her, possessing her. Her hands were up in Lexa's long, soft hair, tangling in its strands tightly, as if afraid that her face would try to pull away.

The brunette's long fingers quickly began to tug at the bottom of the shirt that Clarke had tossed on the previous night. She pulled it upwards, having to stop whenever their attached lips made it impossible to pull it free.

Lexa detached herself only to remove it, revealing Clarke's bare chest, but then her gaze fell to Clarke's body and she moaned. Seemingly unable to return to the blonde's lips, Lexa's tongue suddenly found its way to Clarke's boobs instead.

"Lexa," Clarke gasped, as her girlfriend took one of her nipples into her mouth. "Fuck!" Her body was moving desperately against Lexa's, her thighs clenched and her body aching for the touch of the brunette. Finally, said brunette dropped her face lower than Clarke's chest, dragging her tongue and teeth along her midsection instead. A moan ripped from the blonde's throat when Lexa finally tugged away her pants, then her underwear, and met Clarke's center with her mouth. "Fuck, Lexa!"

"Mm," Lexa hummed against her already extraordinarily sensitive area. Clarke felt her body thrusting down against Lexa's tongue, and her fingers now, as one of Lexa's hands attempted to hold her hips still despite what the other was doing to her.

"L-Lexa," Clarke gasped, her hands grasping for the sheets around her as her back arched involuntarily at the feeling of Lexa between her legs, affecting her body like she had no other purpose in life. As she felt herself coming, she yelled out some expletive that she couldn't recall afterward, and collapsed uselessly onto the sheets, exhaling deeply. "Wow. You really missed me."

Lexa hummed, crawling up the bed and then sitting across Clarke's lap again. She leaned down for a moment, pressing her lips softly to Clarke's so that the blonde could taste herself, and then sat up. "I did miss you. A lot. I haven't stopped. I know you'll be gone in two days, and that fucking sucks."

"Don't think about it," Clarke murmured. "Think about now. Plus, didn't we say last weekend that I owe you a turn?"

"There's plenty of time for that," Lexa insisted, grinning. "I can wait. I do quite enjoy topping you."

"I know you do," Clarke said, chuckling. "How was your week?" She looked up at the brunette with a soft gaze, her mind slightly dulled from the orgasm she'd just had.

"You know, I talked to you every day," Lexa reminded her. "I was on edge all week though. I just wanted it to be this weekend. I'm kind of glad that I fell asleep last night, because or else I wouldn't have been able to focus on anything anyway."

Clarke smiled. "How's the exhibit at the gallery?"

"It's good," Lexa answered. "Are you okay to check it out tomorrow, though? I want as much time with you today as possible."

"Works for me," Clarke agreed. "I'm just excited to see it. Like, I saw all the places in person, but I still haven't really seen all of your photos together before."

"They're okay," Lexa said, laughing lightly.

"They've got to be better than okay, Miss Humble."

"One of us has to be humble," Lexa teased, her nose scrunching slightly, "and we both know that it's not you."

"Shut up," Clarke said, a wide smile still spread across her face. She was sure that she wouldn't ever be able to wipe it off while she was around Lexa. The brunette just made the world bright again, flawless. As always, she filled Clarke with a sense of purpose and exhilaration and it was incredible. She sighed contently. "I love you."

Lexa gave her a somewhat bemused look at the random admission, but then she just smiled. "I love you too, Clarke."

"And now, I'm pretty sure you deserve your turn," Clarke insisted, surprising the blonde and sitting up swiftly, pushing Lexa over and onto her back. Startled, but sparkling, green eyes looked up at her expectantly. "And first thing's first, you are wearing entirely too many clothes."

"Hey, I took off my top before you did," Lexa reminded her, smirking.

"But you're still wearing pants..." Clarke ghosted her fingers across Lexa's abs, causing the brunette to shiver, until she reached the hem of her shorts.

"Barely," Lexa murmured, as Clarke gripped the hem of the shorts and the top of Lexa's underwear at the same time, tearing them both off in one swift motion. Lexa squeezed her thighs together as Clarke removed the articles of clothing from her girlfriend's body entirely. Once she was done, she dragged the pads of her fingers up Lexa's legs, and then gripped her thighs, pushing them apart slightly.

She looked at the area between them, seeing Lexa's wetness already. "There is no way you thought you could wait."

"You're right," Lexa agreed breathlessly. She was squirming under Clarke's touch already, and the blonde dipped her head, pressing a light, fluttery kiss against the inside of Lexa's thigh. The woman let out a sigh, but her pent up frustration could be heard even though how pleased it sounded. Lexa whimpered slightly. "Clarke." Clarke's tongue touched the skin where her kiss had just been pressed, teasing her girlfriend even more as the brunette huffed with frustration. "Do you really enjoy teasing me this much?"

"Yes," Clarke murmured, nipping the skin on Lexa's thigh before suddenly turning her slightly and meeting the place that Lexa wanted her at. The brunette let out a loud gasp and her body jolted, filling Clarke with determination. Her hand and tongue worked hard and fast, not letting up until Lexa was screaming out her name and then collapsing back into the soft bed.

She had definitely missed this.

* * *

There was a loud knock on the door, and Clarke glanced over it as someone outside began calling, "There's no sex happening in the kitchen right? I'm not going to be witnessing a fully naked blondie if I walk in?"

Lexa rolled her eyes. She had been making sandwiches for lunch – since she and Clarke hadn't eaten anything all morning – and the blonde was seated on the counter next to where she was finishing up. "No, Anya, you can come in!"

The door swung open to reveal Anya – who Clarke recognized – followed by two other people, a woman and a man probably both a little older than Lexa. Clarke sometimes forgot that her girlfriend was older than her, but she had a feeling that the brunette's friends were possibly even five years older than Clarke was. She wasn't quite used to that, but she was sure it wouldn't be a problem. Anya was holding up a grocery bag. "I brought alcohol!"

Clarke laughed as Lexa huffed in annoyance at her best friend. "Lexa doesn't want to get drunk," the blonde said, trying her best to be a dutiful girlfriend up until the point where she would ultimately convince her to drink.

"Lexa doesn't have a choice," Anya insisted. "And it's her fault that it's early in the day anyway. Hey, Clarke."

"Hi," Clarke returned, her gaze bouncing over to the two people she hadn't been introduced to yet. Lexa was moving the plate of sandwiches she'd just finished to the small bar at the end of the kitchen, setting it down as Clarke stayed rooted on the counter. She was nervous, though she hadn't admitted it to her girlfriend, about meeting Lexa's friends.

"Tristan, Luna, this is Clarke. Clarke, these are my friends Tristan and Luna. They'll probably figure out one way or another to be inappropriate, so consider yourself warned," Lexa said warily, glancing over at her friends.

Clarke laughed, sliding herself off of the counter now. "I'm pretty sure that they can't be more inappropriate than Raven," she insisted. "It's nice to meet you," she said to the two people, flashing them wide smiles.

"Likewise," the guy – Tristan – said. "We've heard so much about you and it was getting to the point that we thought you might not be real."

"I tried to vouch for you," Anya insisted, smirking. "Even showed them a picture. But they don't think you look like a bartender either."

Clarke scoffed. "You people are crazy. No one in DC ever doubts that I'm a bartender."

"That's because people in DC meet you by walking into a bar and seeing you working," Lexa said, smiling as she passed the blonde a sandwich. She knew that Clarke hadn't eaten since the candy she'd likely had during her road trip up to New York. Clarke took it with a grateful smile.

"You'll just have to prove it to all of us, Clarke!" Anya insisted, producing various bottles of alcohol from the bag she'd come in with. The blonde smirked.

"Works for me," she agreed. "You know I'm kinda a big deal in DC."

"You're not in DC today, blondie," Anya said, grinning.

"How about before we start drinking at half an hour after noon," Lexa said, her eyes rolling, "we actually eat food? Because I know none of you have eaten anything yet today."

"Aw, you're the mom of your friends," Clarke said, grinning widely at her girlfriend, who flushed.

"I'm not."

"You are," Luna agreed, grabbing one of the sandwiches. "Without her we'd all have scurvy and probably would be dead by now."

"I should just let you die," Lexa bit back, a smile sneaking its way onto her face.

"Aw, love you too, bestie!" Anya chimed, taking a sandwich as well.

As their conversation continued, Clarke could see how Lexa fit in with her friends. She wasn't used to experiencing friend groups outside of her own, and it was interesting to watch the brunette talk to the people who were important to her. It didn't help that Lexa had hardly mentioned Anya, let alone any of her other friends, while they'd been in Europe. Lexa had been exposed to Clarke's friends after just a week of them knowing each other. Clarke, however, hadn't heard the names Luna and Tristan until after she'd left New York three months previous. She knew that that was because Lexa wasn't as close to her friends as Clarke was to hers, but as she watched the four of them interact, it was easy to see that they were perhaps closer than Lexa let on. Maybe it was just that they weren't as dependent. Clarke wasn't sure that she could survive without her friends. Lexa wasn't like that.

It was nearing three in the afternoon – after them eating all of the sandwiches and ending up scattered around Lexa's living room – when Clarke finally agreed to make drinks.

"Anya, I told you not to make my girlfriend make drinks for you guys."

"I don't mind," Clarke chimed, causing her girlfriend to huff in exasperation. She grabbed the alcohol that Anya had brought and made her way to Lexa's kitchen. She was used to having more things to work with than what she did, but she managed to make use of some of the things in Lexa's fridge and, after checking with each person to see what they wanted – though Lexa's response was just a loud groan – produced five drinks for all of them.

Hers and Lexa's were far less alcoholic than the ones for Lexa's friends, however. She wasn't a bitch – she wasn't going to make Lexa get drunk if she didn't want to. She'd made impromptu cocktails for her and her girlfriend. "I don't want it," Lexa grumbled, as Clarke came back to the living room with two glasses in her hand.

"It's good," Clarke insisted, nudging her, "I promise."

"I don't like it."

"You haven't tasted it, Lexa," Clarke said, laughing. "I made it specifically so that you would like it, babe."

"Aw," Anya and Luna cooed teasingly, receiving a harsh glare from Lexa, who defiantly took the glass from Clarke. The blonde watched with expectant eyes as she took a sip of the drink. Clarke refused to take a drink of her own until she heard Lexa's reaction.

"It's not... bad."

Clarke smiled triumphantly. That was what Lexa had said the first time she'd made a drink for her, too. "Wow, you must be some kind of god, Clarke," Tristan commented. "This one never drinks anything but wine."

"So I've heard," Clarke said, sipping her drink as she watched Lexa shyly take another drink from the glass.

They went back to talking and laughing, and Clarke got to know Lexa's friends as they got to know her. It was nice, and easy, even though it seemed that they had all heard about her more than she'd heard about them. She thought about possibly bringing that up to her girlfriend later, but put off the thought. They didn't drink too excessively – though Anya, who claimed that since she wasn't driving she didn't care, took a few shots. She didn't seem to get any less sober, however.

The day was fun, over all, and by the time the time was nearing six in the evening, Clarke could tell that her girlfriend was becoming impatient with her friends. She just about shoved them out of the apartment after a few minutes of making strong indications that she wanted them to leave. Clarke tried not to laugh too much at the situation, but it was kind of funny.

As Anya was saying something to Lexa, who was trying to shove her out the door, Clarke's cell phone started ringing from inside Lexa's bedroom. The blonde glanced at her girlfriend and then slipped into the other room, grabbing her phone off of the bed. Raven was calling her.

"Hey," she said, answering and hoping that the conversation would be quick.

"How's the Big Apple?" Raven asked lightly, sounding like she was maybe sitting at her desk, doing some nerd stuff on the computer.

"It's nice," Clarke answered, smiling.

"Have you even left Lexa's apartment?"

The blonde scoffed, but then she huffed and admitted, "No, but we're going out tomorrow. We're going to the gallery to see her photos, remember?"

"What have you been doing all day today?"

"Lexa's friends came over," Clarke explained, "and they're all pretty cool. I think you'd like her best friend Anya. Sometimes she kind of reminds me of you. You'd get along. You both like to tease me and Lexa about sex anyway."

Raven laughed. "Well, I'd love to meet all of them, but I'm unfortunately stuck back here in DC while you're off having fun and meeting people."

"Well you won't miss much besides that. I mean, you will, but let's be honest, you don't wanna be here for the rest of the night."

Her best friend faked a gag. "TMI, Griffin," Raven insisted.

"Speaking of, I've gotta go."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Trust me, I will," Clarke replied, laughing as she hung up the call. She purposefully put her phone on silent and then plugged it into her charger, pretty positive that she wouldn't remember to do it later. Then, running her hand through her hair, she opened Lexa's bedroom door and peeped out into the main room. Her girlfriend seemed to have just put dishes into the sink, and was now washing her hands. Everyone else was gone by now, of course.

Clarke padded silently through the room, coming up behind Lexa and pressing her front into the brunette's back. Lexa immediately exhaled, her body relaxing significantly against Clarke's. "Hi," Lexa murmured.

"Hello," Clarke returned, smiling softly. "Your friends are really cool."

"Anya's an ass, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she insisted, quietly laughing before pressing her lips gently to her girlfriend's neck, "she's nice."

"She's really not."

Clarke smiled against Lexa's soft skin. "Mm, well," she murmured, pulling away from Lexa slightly to turn the brunette around and pin her against the counter, "I guess she did interrupt us when I was here a few months ago."

"She did," Lexa agreed, her breath catching as green eyes flickered between Clarke's shining blue eyes and her lips. Clarke watched as the brunette wet her lips slightly, and then she attached her own lips to them strongly. Lexa accepted the kiss easily, returning it with an equal amount of passion. Suddenly, though, her hands were on Clarke's hips, pushing her and turning them so that the blonde was pushed up against the wall. "I think this is where we were when we were so rudely interrupted."

Clarke was still surprised by the sudden movement, but she nodded in agreement, her eyes meeting Lexa's expectantly.

"I'd like to redo that," Lexa murmured, her hands grabbing and gently guiding Clarke's shirt up and off of her body. The blonde complied without hesitation, and helped to wiggle herself out of her pants and underwear before also getting Lexa to take off her own clothing. When they were both naked, Lexa pressed her into the cold wall, a thigh sliding in between her legs. Clarke groaned, her body immediately grinding against Lexa's leg.

"Fuck, I love you," she huffed out, grabbing the back of Lexa's neck and pulling her in for a hot, desperate kiss.


	6. Chapter 6

Blue eyes flickered open and immediately stuck their gaze on the beautiful sight in front of them. Bare skin, soft and slightly tan, almost glowing due to the sun leaking into the room through the window across the room. Long, dark hair, littered slightly with tangles that were hardly noticeable among the thick curls. Clarke sighed happily. Waking up next to Lexa was like a dream – but it was real. She adjusted her position slightly, and then her hand dropped gently onto her girlfriend's bare waist, tracing her fingers over invisible shapes.

She couldn't help but stare. Lexa was extraordinary, though Clarke was hardly sure that that word was even near acceptable to describe the brunette. Lexa shivered suddenly, and Clarke smiled, stilling her hand as green eyes opened and immediately fixated on her. The sleepy brunette let out a soft sigh as she smiled. "Good morning."

"Morning," Clarke murmured in response. "You're beautiful."

"You're not so bad yourself," Lexa replied, smirking slightly. She leaned a bit closer, pressing their lips together firmly. Clarke reciprocated for a moment, but then pulled back. She wasn't aware of the time, and while she didn't want to know it, she knew that she had to check. She wanted to see the exhibit before she left New York, and she needed to leave at a decent time. The beautiful woman in front of her, however, gave her a pout.

"I have to check the time," Clarke insisted, turning her body in order to reach for her phone on the nightstand. A quick glance at it told her that it was nine in the morning – a typical time for her wake up by instinct she supposed – and she let out a relieved sigh to see that it was still relatively early. "Lucky you," Clarke said, smiling as she relaxed back into her previous position, "it's only nine. What time can we go to the gallery to see your pictures?"

"Anytime after eleven," Lexa replied softly. "But you know, we could just skip the gallery and stay in bed all day."

"I have to leave today Lexa, we can't stay in bed all day."

"No," Lexa whined, pouting again, "you can just stay here."

Clarke chuckled. "I have work tomorrow," she reminded the brunette lightly, despite her own disappointment. "Plus, Raven might murder me. Everyone thinks I'm going to pull another Europe disappearing act."

"Ooh, let's do that," Lexa joked, smiling as her arms snaked their way around Clarke's waist.

"I don't think running away is the solution," Clarke murmured, wiggling slightly as she scooted closer to the brunette. Their noses were nearly touching now. "But that does sound nice." Silence settled between them for a moment, and it was surprisingly uncomfortable, considering how easy and light the normal silences were.

Lexa seemed to sense this as well, and she murmured quietly, "You know that I love you?"

"Of course."

"And I'll love you whether you're here or in DC?"

"I know, Lexa. I just feel like we're stuck."

Lexa exhaled almost silently. "We haven't been together for very long, you know? We're not perfect. We'll never be perfect."

"It feels perfect when I'm waking up next to you," Clarke whispered, her eyes flickering closed as she focused on the feeling of being so close to Lexa. It was a sensation that she knew she could never get tired of. "Everyone keeps... just making me feel like we should be doing something about this."

"This? Long distance?"

"Yes." Clarke's blue eyes opened again, reluctantly, and her gaze settled into Lexa's, which had apparently been focused on her even when her eyes had been closed. "Raven keeps talking about us moving and everyone keeps talking to me about you like they think I'm going to be heartbroken any day now."

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "They don't know what they're talking about."

"I know," Clarke agreed, her voice small. "I just... I don't like being so far from you all of the time." Her eyes closed again, as if trying to block out the thought, and she felt Lexa push some of her hair out of her face softly.

"Let's talk about it. But later. We can't do anything about it right now," Lexa whispered. Clarke nodded in agreement, breaking the distance in between them and curling into her girlfriend, who wrapped her arms around her protectively.

"Mkay," Clarke sighed out, keeping her eyes closed.

* * *

"New York is so big," Clarke commented, looking out the window of her girlfriend's car.

"It is," Lexa agreed, sounding slightly amused. "Did you forget since the last time you were here?"

Clarke laughed and shrugged. "I wasn't here for very long," she reminded the brunette, as if she didn't already know. Lexa hummed in agreement, and then cast a sidelong glance at the blonde.

"You didn't forget all of Europe, did you?" The question's answer was obvious, which is why Lexa sounded lighthearted as she asked it, but Clarke scoffed all the same.

"Of course not," she said, before flashing a wide grin at her girlfriend. "I could never."

"But you weren't in every city for very long," Lexa reminded her, smirking and smiling widely as well.

"Oh shut up," Clarke huffed, though her attempt at stifling her smile failed miserably. "And I didn't forget New York, anyway. I was just distracted by you for most of the time that I was here."

"I guess I'm not mad at that."

"You guess?"

"Yeah, I mean. I kinda like you."

Clarke did her best to glare at the brunette in mock frustration. "Kinda?"

"Kinda."

"Not even 'kinda love' me?" Lexa laughed lightly, and Clarke felt her heart skip a beat as her fake glare dissolved instantly. "You're such a dork."

"So I've heard," Lexa purred. "We're almost at the gallery."

"I'm so excited to see it!" Clarke exclaimed, bouncing in her seat suddenly. She wanted to see Europe again – even if just through pictures.

When they got to the gallery, Lexa parallel parked one of the few spots on the side of the road before the two of them scrambled out of the car. Clarke immediately attached herself to her girlfriend, taking her hand firmly in her own. Lexa flashed her an excited smile and led Clarke into the gallery.

It was a pretty nice gallery, and there were quite a few people around it. Lexa tugged the blonde along gently through the building until they came to a huge wall that was covered in photographs.

Each pair was in a double frame, and some were larger than others. Clarke inhaled deeply as her gaze traced over each and everyone of the photos. The bottom photos of each frame were the newer ones – she knew, because the bottom I Amsterdam sign picture was darker and cloudier than the one above it.

Seeing the pictures, most of which she had seen Lexa take, brought her back instantly. It was like being enveloped in the past suddenly, experiencing what she had seen just months ago through Lexa's camera, her eyes. It amused her when she caught sight of a picture that had been the product of Lexa crouching or bending in some weird way. They had turned out extremely amazing, and Clarke was astounded.

The pictures from five years earlier were different. They seemed to be nearly the same resolution, full of almost as much intensity at the newer ones, but something was different about them. From an outsider's perspective, Clarke could see how people would be interested to see the difference five years could make – or couldn't make. But all Clarke could think about as she examined the differences was Lexa herself. What had she been thinking taking the old pictures versus the new ones?

The Eiffel Tower, for example, and, specifically, the one looking down at the plaza below the monument. It was darker in the old picture, because Lexa had taken the newer picture in the morning. The hedges were trimmed slightly different in either picture, but what Clarke couldn't stop wondering was how Lexa had been feeling.

Had she been wishing that someone was up there with her as she snapped the photo? Had she sipped champagne while she was up there, alone and with green eyes glancing uncomfortably at all the people who had others with them? Or had she felt some sort of relief, seeming so far away from the world below?

Her mind couldn't help but wonder, because she had a good feeling as to what Lexa had been thinking the second time. She was probably trying to rush her picture taking, but still trying to take the best pictures possible, because Clarke had been waiting at the bottom of the tower for her to be done. Maybe her thoughts had been on the night before, when they'd sipped champagne and Lexa had sneaked photos of the blonde. Perhaps she'd felt elation, like Clarke did every time she was around the brunette.

"What do you think?"

The question pulled Clarke out of her thoughts instantly. "They're incredible," she breathed out. "How come when I click the button on a camera, it comes out like shit, and when you do literally the exact same thing, it's amazing?"

"Because I'm a professional, Clarke," Lexa insisted, grinning.

"Minoring in photography makes you a professional?"

"Makes me way more professional than you," Lexa countered, raising an eyebrow as if in a challenge. Clarke just smiled sweetly at her girlfriend and leaned forward, pressing their smiles into a kiss.

"Fair enough," she gave in, pulling away after a minute. "They're really awesome, Lexa, seriously."

"Thank you." Lexa wore a look of pride that made Clarke's heart swell. "Do you want to go get lunch?"

"Can I look at the pictures some more?"

They spent about fifteen more minutes at the gallery, so that Clarke could lean into her girlfriend and relish in the memories that the photographs brought back to her. She couldn't imagine what it might be like in years, looking back on possibly the best three weeks of her life. She hoped that the memories could always stay as fresh as they felt right now.

They went for lunch afterward, at some small cafe that Lexa seemed to select in particular. Clarke understood why once she tasted their food – it was amazing. The whole weekend had been amazing, and the better and better it got, the more the blonde felt completely stuck. It was a terrible feeling, the want to stay and the need to leave. But even though she wanted to stay, she knew that if she did, pieces of her would still want to go home.

After lunch found the two of them naked and curled up in Lexa's bed. They hadn't done anything but strip and cuddle, though. Clarke just wanted to closeness that she would lose for however long they were stuck apart before they could be together again. As they laid there, Clarke felt Lexa hum contently as her fingers began to draw invisible patterns on the blonde's midsection. "You should come to DC next time."

"Of course," Lexa agreed, without a second thought. Clarke couldn't help but wonder what was going on in the beautiful brunette's head. Did she want Clarke to move to New York? Did she want to move to DC? Was she really perfectly okay with this distance?

Clarke knew that the answer to the last one was no, but she wondered it anyway.

"You're thinking a lot today," Lexa murmured, tightening her hold on the blonde as if to keep her in the present.

"Yeah," Clarke agreed, trying to fight the sigh that was aching to escape her lips. "There's a lot to think about."

"When do you have to leave?"

Clarke wiggled in her girlfriend's arms, turning herself around and looking into green eyes, which were clearly saddened and trying not to be. "Soon."

Soon ended up being far too soon, because an hour later, Clarke was forcing herself out of Lexa's bed as the brunette watched her every movement. "I'm going to miss you so much," Lexa groaned, sounding as pained as Clarke felt.

Clarke felt tears brimming in her eyes, but she fought them. "Me too, babe." The blonde was pulling clothing on, much to Lexa's disappointment.

"You'll call me when you get home, right?"

"Of course," Clarke promised, going back to the bed and kneeling on it to press her lips against her girlfriend's. Lexa immediately pulled her down on top of her, causing the blonde to lose her footing and end up directly on top of Lexa on the bed. She squeaked as it happened, and Lexa smiled against her slips.

The moment didn't last, though, and not five minutes later, Clarke found herself walking to the parking garage where her car was, her bags in hand. Her heart was already aching and pounding in anguish. She wanted to turn around and go back to her girlfriend. Tears still threatened to spill from her blue eyes, but she fought them, because she needed to drive.

She fought them for the entire four hours that she drove back to DC, and even the gummy worms she bought halfway through the trip didn't help the heavy feeling in her chest.

It only lightened up when she pushed her way into her apartment to be immediately embraced by her best friend. "You're back!" Raven exclaimed.

"I'm back," Clarke agreed, smiling softly and holding her best friend close, burying her face into her friend's neck.

Raven pulled back out of the hug, and Clarke knew that the brunette could tell that she wasn't feeling like her normal self. "You okay?"

Clarke shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest, feeling like if she made herself smaller, it would feel better. "Fine, I guess."

"You're not."

"I can't afford to not be, Rae." Clarke sighed, her gaze falling to the ground only to jump up a moment later when tears threatened to fall. Raven noticed, despite her attempt to keep them at bay, and her roommate pulled her over to the couch and sat her down.

"Talk about it."

"I..." Clarke swallowed thickly. "I hate leaving her. It feels like I'm leaving a piece of myself behind. And I feel so bad, because I don't know what shewants, and we haven't talked about what we're actually going to do about it yet, and it's terrifying me. Everyone here is so insistent that something has to be happening, but sometimes it feels like Lexa thinks that it's okay for us to be apart for a little while, even though I know that she misses me just as much. And it's so hard, because I don't know how to bring up the actual question without basically asking her to move in with me, which obviously can't happen right now. And I couldn't invite myself to move in with her even if I wanted to – which I would totally do if I didn't have so many other important things holding me here."

"Babe," Raven cooed softly, "ignore everyone here. You and Lexa don't have to have anything figured out. You've been dating for not even four months, and I know that you guys moved at super sonic speed, but that doesn't mean that slowing it down is bad. So forget that. And I'm not saying that I think you and Lexa have to be apart, just that you shouldn't feel rushed. Also, Lexa is your girlfriend Clarke. And that's literally code for the person you should be able to tell everything to without fear of any judgment. Lexa loves you. You can ask her about moving without suggesting that you guys move somewhere. She's not going to get mad at you for having concerns or opinions or anything. You wouldn't get mad at her for doing so, would you?"

"No," Clarke voice was quiet, because by now, tears were rolling down her soft cheeks.

"Bring it up when you're ready, wait for her to bring it up, do whatever feels comfortable, Clarke. There's no right thing to be doing in your situation. All that matters is that you guys are good to each other, and for each other, which you clearly are. And don't let each other forget that, no matter what," Raven finished, her voice now very soft as Clarke felt a sob suddenly wrack her body. She couldn't help it – she'd been holding the tears in for hours now. Raven wrapped her arms tightly around the blonde, who curled into her best friend desperately and continued on crying.

She wasn't sure when she stopped crying, or if she ever did, because her sobbing session ended in her falling asleep quite unceremoniously against Raven.


	7. Chapter 7

Clarke felt herself stirring as she began to hear speaking. It took her a moment to register that she was laying on her and Raven's couch, sleeping practically on top of her best friend, an not at Lexa's apartment in New York.

It took another moment to realize that Raven was talking on her phone to Lexa. "No, she fell asleep as soon as she got home, but she's fine."

"Rae?" Clarke murmured, rubbing her eyes, realizing that tears were dried onto her face. She forced herself to sit up, and Raven immediately shoved her cell phone at her.

"It's your hot photographer."

"Hey," Clarke said sleepily into the phone, hoping that it didn't sound like she'd been crying. She knew that it couldn't have been too long since she'd gotten home, because Lexa would've called earlier if that were the case. "Sorry I forgot to call right away."

"It's okay, you were tired," Lexa stated, seeming to gather that from Raven's assertion that she'd fallen asleep right away when she'd gotten home. Clarke decided not to correct her girlfriend by saying that actually, she'd only fallen asleep due to the sobs that had been shaking through her body. "Was the drive okay?"

"Yep," Clarke answered, hoping that her voice wasn't shaking at all as she thought about her long, depressing drive. "Got my gummy worms."

"Of course," Lexa said, and Clarke could picture the sad smile that must be settled across her lips. "I didn't mean to wake you up. You should go back to bed."

"It's too early for sleep," Clarke muttered, as her best friend got up off of the couch to go into the kitchen, and Clarke slid her legs out across the soft cushions. "But you have work early tomorrow, so maybe it's you who needs to go to sleep."

"Maybe," Lexa agreed. "I better do that then. I love you."

"I love you too," Clarke whispered, suddenly fighting tears again. It had hurt like this when Lexa had gone back to New York City just over three months ago, after dropping Clarke off in DC. Since then, the pain had dulled so that it was a normality, and the crying had stopped after a few days too. Especially once work had picked up again, and Clarke slipped back into her normal routines with her friends. But after going back to see Lexa, the pain was fresh again. She knew that it would dull out as it had before, but she didn't know that that was a good thing. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Clarke." The line ended, and the blonde dropped her phone onto her lap and let out a sigh.

"How about we go get drinks?" Raven suggested, suddenly leaning over the back of the couch with raised eyebrows. "I texted the gang, they're all in."

"Don't you all have work in the morning?" Clarke asked, glancing at the time to see that it was eight in the evening.

"Fuck that," Raven insisted, grinning. "Let's go get plastered!"

Half an hour later found Clarke being pulled into a club behind her best friend. In front of them were their group of friends, already gathered together. "Hey, Clarke! How was your weekend?" Lincoln greeted first, flashing her a wide smile.

"It was nice," Clarke answered, trying to fight her negative emotions and focus on the good of the weekend.

"We need to have an official party night next weekend," Jasper declared, "since we missed out on you this weekend."

"Deal," Clarke agreed.

"Until then," Octavia said, grabbing Clarke's hand and started to pull both her and Raven toward the bar, "let's drunk you guys up."

"You know that's not a proper sentence right?" Bellamy asked, following them toward the bar as well.

"Fuck proper sentences!" Octavia exclaimed, releasing Clarke's hand in order to turn and order some drinks or another. Clarke hardly cared – either way she would probably be slightly disappointed in how good it was, and Octavia knew what kind of drinks she liked.

"She's got a little bit of a head start," Lincoln justified his girlfriend's behavior, smiling slightly in amusement.

"We better catch up then!" Raven decided, her grin spreading wide.

Nearly two hours after that, Clarke was definitely drunk. She'd had at least two cocktails that, while seeming pretty vanilla, were definitely high on the alcohol content level. Not to mention the four shots she'd taken, and she may have had some of Raven's drink as well, but she wasn't quite sure.

Her and her friends dancing like weirdos on the side of the dance floor, but at some point, Clarke felt her stomach gurgle uncomfortably and she leaned against the wall next to where they were standing. Monty and Harper suddenly came over to her, just as she drunk as she was. "So what'd you do this weekend after abandoning us?" Harper asked, grinning widely.

"I hung out with Lexa," Clarke replied, her words slurring slightly, "and I met her friends."

"Did you have lots of sex?" Harper asked, giggling as though she were in middle school. "Rae said you'd have lots of sex."

"We had lots of sex," Clarke confirmed, nodding seriously before breaking out into a silly grin of her own.

"I still think it's lame that we haven't met her," Monty declared.

Clarke shrugged. "Next time we see each other she is gonna come here, so we can take her out or something and she can meet you guys."

"Yes!" Bellamy agreed, suddenly stumbling over to them. "We have to make sure that she's as acceptable as Octavia and Raven have said."

"Doesn't Octavia like, low key hate her?" Clarke asked, her foggy mind allowing her to ask the question even though sober her would probably not have asked it.

"What?" Octavia asked, appeared randomly. "I don't hate Lexa."

"But you always get all quiet and weird when I talk about her and Europe," Clarke insisted, pouting at her friend, who huffed.

"That's because I think that it sucks that you're stuck in long distance, C," Octavia insisted, her voice probably loud, though intoxicated Clarke didn't notice. "But Lexa is super cools."

"Cools?" Lincoln asked her, appearing behind her and wrapping his arms around her middle. Octavia nodded, smiling widely.

"Cools.'

"Rae said she's hot," Jasper stated, as he and Clarke's best friend joined their little circle next to the wall.

Clarke huffed, crossing her arms jealously. "You have a girlfriend, Jasper."

"So? I can still admit when girls are hot. For example, Octavia is smoking."

Lincoln scowled. "Back off, dude."

"He's not wrong, though," Octavia stated, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder and then leaning into her boyfriend.

"And he's not wrong about Lexa," Raven added. "She's gorgeous."

"Guys, Gay-ven is making an appearance," Harper announced, giggling to herself.

"Haha, Harper, you're so funny." Raven's voice was not at all joking, it was pure sarcasm and bitterness and Harper blinked suddenly.

"I was just kidding," she insisted, "lighten up."

Raven nodding, rolling her eyes at an attempt to be playful.

Had Clarke not been drunk, she might've said something to Raven about what had just happened. But as it seemed, she was very not sober.

Clarke and Raven got back to the apartment at midnight, after calling an Uber to take them back from the club. They'd done the same to get to the club, so that neither of them had to leave their car at the place. When they stumbled together into the apartment, they were laughing drunkenly and collapsed together onto their couch after closing the door. "This was fun," Clarke announced loudly, as her best friend sprawled almost entirely on top of her.

"I told you," Raven exclaimed, lifting her head in order to grin at the blonde. "I'm glad you didn't leave for weeks again, by the way. Thanks for not doing that."

Clarke laughed. "Why would I have done that?"

"I dunno." Raven sat up, and adjusted her position so that she was laying in the opposite direction on the couch as Clarke was, and they both sat up a little and bent their legs so that their feet met in the middle. "I'm just glad you didn't."

It was quiet for a moment, and then Clarke hiccuped and announced unnecessarily, "I'm drunk."

"Me too," Raven agreed, smiling widely.

"What was with that reaction to Harper's comment earlier, by the way?" Clarke asked, her mind recalling the funny situation.

Raven suddenly became very defensive. "Nothing."

"Aw, Rae Bae," Clarke murmured, poking her best friend's knee. "Talk to me. We're drunk anyway, and it's late, so might as well."

"I should go to bed," Raven muttered, her gaze dropping.

"I'll follow you," Clarke threatened, drawing brown eyes back up to look at her. "C'mon, Rae, tell me what's wrong."

"I'm gay."

The statement was dropped so suddenly that Clarke's eyes actually widened, even though she couldn't say that she was necessarily surprised. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Did you think I was gonna judge you or something, Rae? I'm bisexual, and last I checked, I'm dating a lesbian," Clarke said, furrowing her eyebrows somewhat.

"I expected a little more surprise," Raven admitted, narrowing her eyes slightly as they looked anywhere but at Clarke.

"Raven," Clarke said, suddenly sounding far more sober, "how long have you gone knowing this, and not saying anything about it?"

"About a year," Raven admitted quietly, blinking quickly only to have a tear drop from her eye. "I was scared to say it out loud."

"Why?" Clarke asked, her hand resting lightly on her best friend's knee. "You know that none of us would ever judge you."

"I kept thinking about my mom." Raven's voice was ridiculously small, and Clarke felt her heart ache at hearing it. Raven never talked about her parents – at least, it was very rare. Clarke had never met her best friend's real parents, because she'd only met Raven after the brunette had been put into foster care. The foster system had taken hold of her for the first few years that Clarke met the brunette, but she luckily never ended up out of DC, even when a family decided to adopt her. And even when that family gave her up just before Raven turned eighteen, and the brunette got emancipated before the foster system could try to force her into another family for the last few months of her years of being a dependent.

"What about her?" Clarke asked quietly.

"It's that look that she gave me every time I didn't live up to her expectations. I never remember telling her about something and receiving any other look but that one. And I try not to think about her very much, obviously. But I kept seeing that look, and I know that she would be giving it to me now if I told her that I'm gay," Raven whispered, hugging her knees to her chest. "And I'm never going to see her again, so I know that it shouldn't bother me. But then I picture the faces of all of the social workers and people who had to deal with me while I was in the system. And how everyone was always just disappointed – disappointed that another family had given me up. I was an inconvenience to all of them, and I feel like deep down, I've been suppressing this forever, because of them."

Clarke had heard about the foster system from Raven's perspective many times during their late night, deep, truth talks, but Raven usually never had to describe it at all. After all, Clarke had been by her side throughout all of it. She'd held Raven as she cried all throughout their teenage years, and the brunette had began to practically live at Clarke's house at one point. Their senior year had been hard, with Clarke's dad dying and Raven's new family telling her that they wanted to give her up. It had been some crazy, intense shit.

Raven never talked about it now, though, and Clarke didn't blame her. Her best friend was amazingly resilient – she'd gone through college and had an awesome job, could support herself entirely, and was generally pretty emotionally stable considering her past. But that didn't meant that sometimes the past haunted the brunette, so Clarke honestly couldn't be surprised that it was the reason that Raven had said nothing about her sexuality to Clarke.

"Rae," Clarke said softly, leaning forward and coaxing Raven into an embrace. She wrapped her arms protectively around her best friend. "You are anything but a disappointment. You are incredible, inspiring, beautiful, caring, hilarious, so fucking intelligent, and you know who made you that way? You. All of those people in the past were obstacles to pass, and you did, and you are crushing life even after stumbling a few times. And I know that doesn't keep their faces out of your head, but you just need to know."

Raven had tears streaming down her cheeks as she hugged Clarke close. "Thank you," she whispered.

* * *

They slept on the couch, and definitely woke up past Raven's time to leave for work. Well, Clarke woke up, but Raven was still passed out. The blonde took the liberty of grabbing her friend's phone and, despite the headache slamming in her head, called in to the law firm to announce that Raven wasn't feeling well enough to come into work. Yeah, Raven was probably saving some of her sick days for something or another, but Clarke felt like today was necessary. Plus, she was already late anyway.

After getting an Advil down, chased by a whole glass of water, Clarke grabbed a second pill and glass and brought it to the living room, gently nudging her best friend awake. Raven stirred with a groan. "Fuck, my head hurts."

"Yeah, yeah, take the pill," Clarke muttered, dropping it into Raven's now extended hand.

A moment later, the water in Raven's glass was gone, and the brunette huffed out a big puff of air. "Well. Last night was... interesting. You... remember everything, right?"

"Yes," Clarke replied softly. "You okay?"

"I actually feel awesome," Raven admitted, a smile appearing on her lips. "I mean, besides my head aching so fucking bad, I just feel clear."

Clarke grinned. "Good."

"Thanks for letting me cry all over you."

"You did the same for me yesterday too," Clarke reminded her, smiling softly. "That's what we're here for each other for."

Raven smiled, but then suddenly jumped up. "Shit! What time is it?"

"I called you out of work," Clarke answered, looking pointedly at her best friend. "You're easily already two hours late. It's ten."

"Three hours late, actually," Raven mumbled, sitting back down. "Thanks."

"How about some eggs?" Clarke suggested, standing and making her way to the kitchen.

"If you're cooking them, then maybe not," Raven called back teasingly, turning around on the couch and looking over the back of it. Blue eyes gave her an incredulous look, and Raven laughed. "Okay, okay, make me eggs roomie!"

"You are in a good mood, considering the hangover that you have to have right now."

"I feel good," Raven said again, smiling. "I didn't like hiding such a big part of me. I don't want to anymore."

"To be honest," Clarke started, as she opened up the fridge to make sure that she and Raven even had any eggs in it, "you don't even need a big coming out. Everyone's already pretty convinced that you're a little gay anyway."

Raven hummed thoughtfully, before laughing quietly. "I guess you're right."

Clarke finally found the eggs in the fridge, and she grabbed them and set them on the counter. "Thanks for telling me, Raven."

"You're my best friend Clarke," Raven stated firmly, smiling. "You don't have to thank me."

* * *

"Plot twist," Clarke said, once her girlfriend answered the phone call, "my best friend is gay."

"Raven?"

"She came out to me last night," Clarke admitted.

"Well, that's awesome," Lexa said, sounding slightly confused by the situation. Clarke didn't really blame her – it seemed like something Clarke should've known already.

"She hadn't really told anyone, but we all kind of suspected," Clarke explained, shaking her head. "Anyway, yeah so that happened last night. We were kind of plastered, though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Clarke answered, sighing. "I think Raven wanted to take me out to drink because I was kind of glum when I got back yesterday. I miss you."

There was a quiet hum on the other end of the line. "I miss you, too. You weren't drinking because of me, though, were you?" Lexa sounded very concerned all of the sudden, and though the tone warmed Clarke's heart, it also pained it.

"No," Clarke promised. "I was just tired and upset, and I needed to lighten up. Plus, it's not like I was out drinking by myself. I was with all of my friends. They're all really impatient to meet you, by the way. And apparently Raven has hyped up how hot you are to them, so they're pretty expectant."

"Don't they know what I look like?"

"Well, yes," Clarke answered, smiling a little, "but Raven says, and I have to agree with her on this, that you look way hotter in person."

"You mean if I sent you a picture of me naked, you wouldn't think I was hot?"

A groan ripped itself out of Clarke's throat without her permission. "Fuck Lexa, way to totally change the topic."

"I just miss you. Though, I'm not sorry for changing the topic. I'm in bed naked right now and wishing you were on top of me."

"Feeling less like a top tonight?" Clarke murmured, closing her eyes and drawing up a picture of her girlfriend, sprawled beautifully and naked across her bed.

"Yes," Lexa admitted. "I'd really like you in between my legs right now."

"Where's your hand right now?" Clarke asked, trying to complete the image in her head.

"Nowhere appropriate."

"You're touching yourself already?" Clarke groaned, both from the visual and the fact that Lexa hadn't waited for her.

"I tried to call you ten minutes ago," Lexa justified, and Clarke pouted, because she hadn't been ready to curl up in bed ten minutes ago. "I haven't done much, though. You are more than welcome to take over."

"You have no idea how much I wish I was there so I could fuck you senseless, babe," Clarke breathed out. There was a quiet whimper on the other end of the call, and Clarke smiled. "I'd skip the foreplay – because I know that you're far too impatient for it right now, which is why your hand is already between your legs."

"Yes," Lexa confirmed, already sounding breathless.

"So I'd slide my fingers through your wetness, because I know that you're soaked. I'd tease your clit a little bit," Clarke murmured, and she heard Lexa let out a quiet moan, "and then I'd catch you by surprise and slide two fingers inside you."

Lexa gasped as she followed Clarke's words, before letting out a moan.

"I'd go fast, too, because I really want you to come for me." Clarke's voice was low and expectant, and the noises that Lexa was make caused her hand to slide into her own shorts even as she spoke. "And then I would palm your clit a little bit, and you'd moan a little bit louder." Her predictions were not wrong. "And finally I'd hit your lovely little spot, and I know that you'd come."

"Fuck, Clarke," Lexa exclaimed, and the blonde knew that she'd come.

"But that's not it," Clarke insisted, her left hand meeting the wetness between her own legs. "I'd be going slow now, easing you down, but as soon as you started to catch your breath again, I would speed up steadily until you were rocking against my hand so fucking hard that I would have to hold you still." She squeezed her eyes closed as she body woke up completely from the feeling between her legs that she was starting to relieve and the visual of Lexa making herself come again. "And you would beg me to make you come again."

"Please, Clarke," Lexa gasped, moaning again. "Please make me come again."

"So I would slow down again, just to tease you a little bit..."

"Clarke," Lexa moaned desperately, and Clarke imagined her having a bit of trouble following the blonde's directions.

Smirking, Clarke said, "And then I would finally let you come again, and then my fingers would stay still." As she listened to Lexa's second orgasm, Clarke's breathing became shallow and short, as her fingers worked against herself. She suddenly moaned, just as Lexa was started to come down, and the brunette's low voice quietly questioned her.

"Are you touching yourself?"

"Maybe..."

"At least let me help you."

"Please do."


	8. Chapter 8

Lexa got off relatively early from work that Friday, which was nice, because after a long week of working and pushing through life without Clarke again, she could use some off time. She was working just one Saturday shift too, which was nice. No work on Sunday either. Her weekend was going to pan out pretty well. It could've been way better, of course, were Clarke there.

After parking her car in her parking space, she grabbed her things and started up to her apartment, and her phone suddenly went off. Without thinking, she answered it, assuming that it was probably Clarke – her girlfriend would be heading into work soon, though.

However, it wasn't Clarke.

"Hey, Lexa!" a painfully sweet voice exclaimed.

"Costia," Lexa replied, not even trying to hide the disinterest in her voice, and rolling her eyes without thinking. Her mind thought back to what Anya had said about her ex girlfriend the previous week, and she couldn't help but scoff. Costia had never rightfully even gained Lexa's forgiveness for cheating on her years earlier, and Lexa, though not typically one to hold a grudge, was still upset at the lack of a real apology.

Cheating was something that she considered almost always unforgivable, after all, and Costia hadn't even offered up an attempt at an apology. "I heard through the gay grapevine that you're dating a girl you met in Europe."

"Gay grapevine told you the truth," Lexa stated bluntly, nearing her apartment now much to her relief. The sooner she could collapse onto her couch and make an effort to get Costia to stop talking to her, the better.

"Kind of ironic, isn't it? Since we were supposed to go to Europe together."

"Oh yes, Costia, it's quite ironic that during my second trip to Europe, I met an amazing girl whom I love very much, and that five years ago, I went to Europe feeling hopeless and alone because my new ex had just cheated on me days before our Europe trip," Lexa snapped back bitterly, not really appreciating where this conversation was going.

"Chill out, Lexa. I've apologized for that."

Green eyes rolled again. Costia had never apologized for any of the shit she'd done. It hadn't ever really bothered Lexa, at least not until it really affected her. "What do you want, Costia?"

There was a sigh at the other end of the phone. "I've recently realized that I miss you."

"Oh, have you?"

"Yeah."

"Good to know," Lexa deadpanned, before lacing her word with sarcasm as she added, "let me just break up with my amazing girlfriend to get back with you, the girl who cheated on me once already."

"Ease up on the hate, Lex," Costia huffed out. "Doesn't your girlfriend live in Seattle or something?"

"Washington DC," Lexa corrected, fighting yet another eye roll. "Not nearly as far. And I'm sorry to tell you, though I'm really not, that despite the distance, I'm perfectly happy dating her, and I'm not interested in you at all."

The phone call ended abruptly, and if Lexa didn't know Costia very well, she'd have guessed that the connection had been lost. But it was just like Costia to hang up when she didn't want to continue a conversation. That had once pissed Lexa off on countless occasions, but now, she was glad to have the call end.

Now inside her apartment, she sat down on her couch and opened up her text message.

 **To Anya(sshole) – Costia came prowling. Via phone.**

The response was almost instantaneous.

 **From Anya(sshole) – I swear it was Luna who told her shit about Clarke.**

 **To Anya(sshole) – Last I checked, Luna didn't fall under the category of "gay grapevine". You, however, do.**

 **From Anya(sshole) – Kay, I MAY have said a few things. But I didn't know she was prowling at the time. And it's not my fault.**

 **To Anya(sshole) – Sounds like your fault.**

 **From Anya(sshole) – You know what really is my fault? Got fired today.**

 **To Anya(sshole) – I guess I should've wondered why you were texting when you should've been working. What the fuck happened?**

The phone call came instantly, and Lexa sighed, bracing herself for her best friend's explanation.

* * *

" Shit, shit, shit ," Clarke hissed, running through the apartment, probably looking just as frazzled as her mind was, looking for her car keys. She was starting to become convinced that Raven had accidentally taken them, because she'd been looking for at least ten minutes and she was so close to being late for work because of it.

Luckily, though, just as she was about to give up and curl up in her bed, she found them hanging out of the pockets of the pants she'd worn the previous day. Of course.

When Clarke was finally on the road, heading to the bar, she grabbed her phone and made to call her girlfriend. They hadn't talked yet that day, and Clarke was about to go into a shift that wouldn't end until eleven. Her call went straight to voice mail, though, and after releasing a sad sigh, she settled into her seat and continued driving.

She would've tried again during a lull in customers at the bar, but seeing as it was getting further and further into Friday evening, she knew that she would not be getting one of those anytime soon. She settled for calling again at eleven, and sent her girlfriend a quick text to let her know that she would call again then.

She lost herself in working after about an hour, the mixing and shaking and stirring of drinks blurring together as regulars and new customers came in and out of the bar. It seemed surprisingly popular that night, and Clarke wondered briefly if it had to do with the fact that summer was in full swing by now. Maybe it was the end of a long week of summer classes at UDC. She wasn't sure, but it was kind of refreshing to have so much work to do. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy it.

When all of her friends bust into the bar at ten o'clock, that didn't make it any worse either. Jasper declared loudly that they were going to start their hangout that night and carry it all the way through the next day until Clarke had to work again. The blonde eagerly agreed, and worked through the last hour of her shift looking forward to drinking and relaxing.

The clock struck eleven just as Clarke's replacement was showing up at the bar. She grabbed her things and let her friends drag her out and into one of their cars – Lincoln's by the looks of it – and Lincoln was driving as well, since he had been the only one who hadn't yet had a drink.

They went to Harper's apartment however, their usual place for parties and such. It had always helped that Clarke's apartment was in the same building too, but that was obviously no longer the case. As they approached the building, Harper promised the blonde that Finn was long gone, and Clarke couldn't help but feel relieved about that much at least.

She texted Lexa again while in the car, but she received no response.

Hoping that she wasn't being too clingy, she called Lexa as soon as they were at Harper's house, hoping to get to talk to her girlfriend before she got plastered. She got voice mail again.

And when the clock hit midnight, Clarke was taking back her third shot of the night. The longest period of time that she and Lexa had gone without talking had officially passed.

* * *

Lexa woke up next to a sound asleep Anya, barely recalling that she'd slept over at her friend's house. After their long phone call about Anya's job, she'd let the other girl drag her around looking for places to apply at for another job. Lexa had insisted that she could let Anya borrow some money, but the blonde had denied the offer.

Lexa's phone had died during the ordeal, and when she and Anya had gotten back to her best friend's apartment, she'd barely plugged it in before they both crashed on the bed.

Her phone was definitely not dead now, though, as it kept vibrating incessantly. Groaning, Lexa leaned over to unplug it and bring it closer to her face. Concern immediately washed over her.

 **From Babe 3 – Heeey, Lexaa!**

 **From Babe 3 – U dint txt me bak b4!**

 **From Babe 3 – N thas not fair bcc it's officly th first day we hvnt talked at all.**

 **From Babe 3 – U r probably bizy tho, so im sry for spamming u smuch**

 **From Babe 3 – Im a lil drnk btww!**

 **From Babe 3 – Is kinda late but we rnt gonna sleep bc it's a partyy.**

 **From Babe 3 – But I jus kindaa miss u.**

 **From Babe 3 – Leksaaaaa**

Eyebrows knit together, Lexa immediately began responding to her girlfriend's messages.

 **To Babe 3 – Hey baby, you okay?**

 **From Babe 3 – Lexa! Yusss! I'm g8r! I mean gr8! Hha**

 **To Babe 3 – You sure about that? Are you with Raven?**

 **From Babe 3 – I'm w Rae and O and H and Bell n Jas n also Monty... Lincoln he's hre 2 I think he mite be pasd out loool**

 **To Babe 3 – You should drink some water, beautiful.**

 **From Babe 3 – U shld telport hereeee! Can u do that?**

 **To Babe 3 – I wish, and I would if I could. :(**

 **From Babe 3 – Did I wake u up? Fuqk! I misd u im sorry.**

 **To Babe 3 – It's okay, don't be sorry. I'm sorry I didn't get your calls earlier. I was with Anya, she was having a rough time with work and shit. And my phone died. :(**

 **From Babe 3 – Don't be srry im just clingy im sorry I shoulda just got tht u were busy**

 **To Babe 3 – You're not clingy, Clarke. I love that you want to talk to me everyday, because I want to talk to you everyday, too. Don't apologize for that. It's my bad that we didn't talk yesterday. But it's really late, Clarke, and you should drink some water and go to sleep.**

 **From Babe 3 – U r prob right. I thnk Rae is sleepin now on Harper's floooor so i'll do that. Goodnight lexaaaaa!**

 **To Babe 3 – Goodnight, love. 3**

* * *

Clarke woke up on Saturday morning with an awful headache, and with her body squished next to Raven's, with her phone right next to her face. Groaning, she dropped her phone and slammed her hands over her eyes. The darkness was too bright.

Yeah, she'd possibly gotten a little drunk the previous night.

And yeah, maybe she didn't exactly remember anything past one in the morning, and she wasn't sure how she'd ended up asleep next to Raven, but she supposed that she shouldn't be surprised.

She was surprised when she suddenly heard her phone vibrate despite how low battery if must've been.

 **From My Hot Photographer – Good morning. Text me when you wake up so that I know you're okay, please. 3**

Clarke's eyebrows furrowed, and then she saw the conversation she'd had with Lexa the previous night while she'd been drunk. She groaned again, her hangover her forgotten for a moment as dread spread through her body. Lexa probably thought she was fucking crazy.

 **To My Hot Photographer – I'm so sorry about last night! I don't remember texting any of that. I guess I lost everything between one in the morning and four in the morning. I'm up, though, and I'm fine.**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Don't apologize, it's okay. You should be apologizing to yourself, can't imagine that your head feels anything but awful.**

 **To My Hot Photographer – You're not wrong. When do you work today? I want to call you! :(**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Not until after noon sometime.**

Clarke slipped into Harper's bathroom to keep from waking her friends, who were strewn around the apartment randomly. Clarke was actually surprised that someone wasn't asleep in the bathtub, actually. She closed the door softly and locked it before hitting the call button on her phone.

Lexa answered it almost instantly, and though the abruptness of her voice should've worsened Clarke's headache, it actually felt like a relief. "Hey, good morning."

"Morning," Clarke replied, sitting on the floor and leaning her back against the door. "I'm sorry for waking you up at four in the morning."

"It's really okay," Lexa promised, her voice gentle. "It's my fault we didn't talk yesterday anyway. I was with Anya."

"Not your fault," Clarke insisted, shaking her head before stilling it instantly due to the pain. "What happened with Anya's work, by the way? I saw that you mentioned it last night."

"She works in finance, and she's had a job managing finances for this one company for a couple of years," Lexa started, "and, conveniently, they've spent the last week losing all of their money due to some other person they hired alongside Anya. Of course, now the company has just about completely crashed and they fired both of their finance managers, despite it not being her fault at all. So she's currently without a job, and we were trying to find her something yesterday."

"Did you?" Clarke asked, concerned for her girlfriend's best friend even though she'd only met her twice.

"No," Lexa admitted, sighing. "Nothing promising, anyway. She's used to living a certain lifestyle – she had a decent pay at her old job – so she doesn't want to get a job just anywhere. She'll be job hunting for a few weeks, probably, and until then, I managed to get her a temporary job at the museum. I would've just let her borrow money, but she's adamant about not doing so. And I can't really blame her, so."

"Damn, that sucks, I'm sorry," Clarke said, furrowing her eyebrows. "I hope she finds something soon."

"Hopefully she will. She's pretty good at what she does, and she has a pretty good resume considering how young she is compared to lots of finance people in the world. Anyway. I'm sure your night last night was far more exciting."

Clarke smiled. "My friends came and whisked me away after work and we went back to Harper's place and got plastered, which was fun, I guess. I feel like shit now, though," Clarke stated. "I'm the first one awake, so I probably should try to make some sort of breakfast... but I'm scared to open Harper's fridge. I swear to god, sometimes it seems like she's still in college."

"At least you had fun," Lexa justified. "You working today?"

"Yeah, going in at four I think," Clarke replied, hearing movement from the apartment through the door. "Saturday nights are the best, I get loads of tips. Though, there are way more assholes who come in on Saturday nights. I might get Raven to keep me company all night. It would be cool if youcould come keep me company. I'd love to see you sitting at my bar."

"Why?" Lexa asked, chuckling. "I mean, specifically, at the bar?"

"I don't know, the visual just makes me smile," Clarke admitted, grinning. "Though, most any visual of you makes me smile, so I guess I'd just like you here. That would be nice."

"That would be nice," Lexa agreed, sounding like her words were leading to another statement. Sure enough, she suddenly was saying, "So, you said your friends want to meet me, didn't you?"

"Mmhmm," Clarke hummed in response, wondering briefly what Lexa was about to say in continuation.

"I think I wanna come down there in a couple of weekends," Lexa said, and Clarke could hear the smile in her voice. "I was thinking about what we talked about, and I don't know what we're going to do about everything, but I do know that we cannot go three months without seeing each other again. We live too close to one another for that."

"I agree," Clarke breathed out, not fighting her grin. "So two weekends from now?"

"Yes," Lexa confirmed.

"Awesome, I can take off a Saturday," Clarke said, still smiling and feeling herself bursting with joy at the idea.

"I can take off Friday too," Lexa added, "and come down in the morning. And you don't have to take off that day, because then I can come in and sit down at your bar and you can see the visual in your head in person."

Clarke's grin was almost making her headache worse, but she could hardly care. "I fucking love you so much, Lexa Woods."

"I know," Lexa chimed contently. "And I kinda love you too."

"Don't even pretend, Lexa, you love me so much," Clarke teased, hearing movement behind the door again and wondering if someone was about to try to interrupt her conversation.

"You know me so well," Lexa answered cheekily, and Clarke sighed happily.

"This is the part where I would kiss you if you were here," she stated, "but since you're not, I'll just close my eyes and visualize it."

"Yo, Griffin!" came Jasper's sudden shout through the door. "Some of us have to pee! This is not the phone call room!"

"It became the phone call room as soon as I made a phone call in it!" Clarke called through the door.

"You're in the bathroom?" Lexa asked with a quiet chuckle.

"I was trying to avoid waking my lovely friends, who all seem to have woken up anyway."

"I'll let you get back to them," Lexa said softly. "I love you."

"I love you, too." The call ended, and Clarke hopped up off of the bathroom floor and then actually used the bathroom for what it was meant for. Only then did she relinquish the bathroom to Jasper, who was practically hopping back and forth as he tried to hold it.

"Were you talking to Lexa?" Octavia asked, looking pointedly at the blonde, who hardly even blushed.

"Yes, I was. And she said she's going to come down here the weekend after next," Clarke stated, smiling happily as she sat herself down on the floor where she'd slept. Raven was still laying there, though clearly not entirely asleep now, and she released a groan in protest as Clarke poked her. "Get up, babe, you're in my way."

"Does Lexa ever think it's weird that you call Raven babe?" Bellamy asked, curious as he entered the room from Harper's bedroom, stretching his arms in his head. That was when Clarke realized that Harper was still passed out on the couch in the living room, looking like she wasn't planning on getting up anytime soon.

"I don't think so?" Clarke answered, tilting her head. "It's habit with Raven. I call Lexa babe and it's totally different."

"It just seems weird." Bellamy shrugged, and Raven finally sat up, groaning again before collapsing again the blonde. Clarke huffed, but let her best friend lean again her.

Despite her tiredness, the brunette mumbled, "I've been Clarke's babe-equivalent since prom, and that doesn't disappear just because she's dating some hot photographer."

"You've met her, and you still call her the hot photographer?" Monty asked, raising his eyebrows at her from where he was standing in the kitchen.

"It's an accurate description," Clarke justified, smirking.

Raven nodded. "Plus, that's what Clarke has her name saved as in her phone." Clarke flushed – none of her friends other than Raven had known that. She wondered if she'd have to change it to avoid the teasing now.

"Of course you would," Octavia said, smirking.

Clarke huffed, smiling slightly despite herself as she leaned into her best friend.

* * *

Even though Clarke had talked to Lexa that morning, by the time she was halfway through her shift at work, she was desperate to talk to her girlfriend again. She was glad that it was Saturday night and that someone else was working at the same time as her, because she managed to find a few minutes to excuse herself.

 **To My Hot Photographer – Hey, I'm at work but I really miss you. :(**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Hey, I am not at work, and I really miss you too. :( 3**

 **To My Hot Photographer – My friends found out what your name in my phone is and I'm considering changing it now. :o**

 **From My Hot Photographer – Wait, what is my name in your phone?**

Clarke's eyes widened and she muttered a quiet, "fuck," as she realized that she hadn't told Lexa the name. Before she could decide whether or not to tell Lexa, she got another text message.

 **From My Hot Photographer – Why don't I know this? Clarke!**

 **To My Hot Photographer – It's "My Hot Photographer" …...**

There was about thirty seconds before she saw the typing bubble pop up again on her screen.

 **From My Hot Photographer – OMG! Isn't that what Raven kept calling me? LOL xD**

 **To My Hot Photographer – Maybe? It's not like it's inaccurate. _ You are a photographer, you are quite hot, and you are MINE. I don't see the issue.**

 **From My Hot Photographer – There's no issue. It's cute that that's my name in your phone ;)**

 **To My Hot Photographer – Oh god I'm changing it this is so embarrassing.**

 **To Lexa – There, now it's Lexa.**

 **From Lexa – What! No! That's so boring. :(**

 **To Lexa – What's my name in your phone?**

 **From Lexa – It's "Babe 3"**

 **To Lexa – Dammit, I do need to change it to something less boring now. How about "Fuck Buddy"?**

 **From Lexa – Fuck you. :(**

 **To Lexa – You're welcome to, but you're kinda far away right now.**

 **From Lexa – I know, it's too bad too, because I'm so ready for that right now.**

Attached to that text message was a picture of Lexa in her full length mirror, completely naked and with a perfect little smirk on her face. Clarke's mouth went dry, and she moaned out loud, glad that she was in the back room of the bar.

 **To Lexa – LEXA WOODS! Are you fucking kidding me? I'm at work right now! You can't send me shit like that!**

 **From Evil Girlfriend – I'm (not) sorry. I just wish you were here...**

Attached to that text message was a new picture, of Lexa in bed with her hand dragging against her soft skin down to the area between her legs. Clarke swallowed thickly, and then someone suddenly came through the door from the bar. It was her coworker for the night. "Clarke, we're kinda busy, think you could come back out?"

"Of course," she just about squeaked, managing one last text to her girlfriend before running back to work.

 **To Sexy Evil Girlfriend – You better be awake at midnight, because you cannot leave me hanging after this evil sexy shit you're pulling, babe.**

As she got back out to the bar and started working, she had just enough of a chance to glance down and read the new text message as she got it.

 **From Sexy Evil Girlfriend – It's a date. ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

"I swear to god I'm going to quit this job," Raven exclaimed as she busted into the apartment.

"Well, don't quit it until you've got another job waiting, because I can't pay for this place by myself," Clarke said, raising an eyebrow as she looked up from her place on the couch. She had her sketchbook on her lap. It was the first day that she'd drawn in a while, honestly, because she'd been going out with friends almost every day and working until late into the night only to sleep until late in the day. In most of her free time, she was talking to Lexa on the phone. Drawing had hardly crossed her mind actually, until she noticed her sketchbook laying on her desk, cold and untouched.

About an hour prior to now, Clarke had settled herself into the couch with her sketchbook and let everything flow out of her onto paper. It was currently Thursday in the early afternoon, and Raven wasn't supposed to be home yet. Before Clarke could inquire why she was home early, the brunette was already talking again. "You don't understand. Those assholes ask me to come into one of their fancy conference rooms and set up the new presentation system. Now, that's fine, it's my fucking job, right? So I go in, and I start hooking the whole thing up. I'm almost done when this asshole who's been in the room the whole fucking time goes, 'Oh actually, it needs to face this wall'. I'm like, alright, fine, he didn't realize, let me dismantle the whole fucking thing and face it the other way. Then one of his higher ups comes in and freaks out, because they have a conference in half an hour and apparently the thing is facing the wrong way. So I try to tell him about the misunderstanding while I'm trying to turn it backaround, and then this guy gets pissed off at me and tells me that I'm clearly too worked up and that I need to go home – and that they'll get one of the tech guys from one of the other floors of the building to do it."

Clarke's jaw dropped. "Wait, seriously? Were you even snapping at him?"

"No! I was just explaining what happened with the asshole in the room, and he added in that someone else told him wrong and I was like 'Alright, well it still happened' and I don't know, the boss guy just got unreasonably mad about it. I'm pretty sure I might actually quit soon. I've got enough savings to spend a couple of weeks looking for a new job. And let's be honest, I don't do anything less than perfect when it comes to my work, so there's no way I'll have to look for a job for longer than a couple of weeks."

"I mean, if you think so," Clarke said, nodding. "It sucks that you're so unhappy at your job anyway. Those people really don't deserve you as their tech manager or whatever your job is."

Raven rolled her eyes, but a small smile appeared on her face as she collapsed onto opposite side of the couch. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just drawing," Clarke answered, shrugging. "I haven't in a while."

"I would've thought that you'd be waking up right now," Raven admitted.

"Lexa called me a couple of hours ago before she went into work," Clarke explained, shrugging.

"She still planning on coming down next weekend?"

A smile spread across the blonde's face involuntarily. "Yes. I'm excited."

"You should be," Raven said, smiling. "I'm really glad that you guys are working around this long distance thing. I don't think I've seen you as happy as you are recently in a while. I mean, when you exclude the crying part and the stress part. Like, when you're talking to her and about her, you light up so brightly and I just... I'm happy for you."

Clarke grinned widely. "You gonna come to the bar with me tonight?"

Raven nodded. "Definitely. I could use so many drinks. Though, I should probably minimize how many I have to some degree, because if I'm still drunk when I get into work tomorrow, I will definitely quit."

* * *

A few hours later found Clarke behind the bar, as per usual, and Raven already one drink into her night. Clarke knew that it would going to be a long night, too, so she started lightening up Raven's drink as soon as the brunette ordered a second one. The night wasn't too busy, since it was the weekend, so when Lexa texted Clarke that she was off for the night, the blonde was able to answer.

 **From Sexy Evil GF – I'm off, and super bored. :(**

 **To Sexy Evil GF – So do something to make you not bored. :P**

"Clarke," Raven complained suddenly, and the blonde looked up from her phone with concern. "Usually on slow nights you're talking to me, notLexa."

"Hey, no complaining," Clarke insisted, "or else I'm cutting you off."

Raven huffed. "Fine. Get me another."

"You're not even done with that one." Clarke narrowed her eyes at the drink in front of the the brunette. Someone from the other end of the bar hailed her politely, and Clarke looked pointedly at her best friend before moving over to the guy.

When she was done getting him his drink, she glanced over to Raven to see her talking to some girl who looked like her intentions were definitely beyond friendly. Clarke couldn't help but smirk, because Raven looked half freaked out at the flirty demeanor that the girl was donning, and half utterly flattered. Clarke kept to the other end of the bar, talking with the regulars about their days. She knew lots of their names, and a lot about most of them. It was nice sometimes, to have familiar people in the bar, even if she'd only ever spoke to them while making their drinks. It was always worse to have a bar full of people she didn't recognize. The bar was almost like her home away from home after all the time she'd spent working there.

She only went back over to where Raven was when the girl seemed to excuse herself to go to the bathroom. Clarke immediately darted over to her best friend. "What the fuck just happened?" Raven demanded. "Girls never flirt with me."

"Maybe the gay is radiating off of you today," Clarke suggested, smirking. "She's cute, you should go for it."

"I am way too new at this," Raven huffed out, and Clarke found it absolutely endearing that her brave, fearless best friend seemed completely terrified at the prospect of interacting with a girl beyond the normal friendship limits.

"Raven, you are one of the bravest people that I know," Clarke insisted. "If you literally just be yourself, she'll be interested. Hell, you didn't have to do anything for her to be interested. Just be confident – but not like... cocky confident."

"Ugh, okay," she murmured, and Clarke noticed the girl returning from the bathroom. She quickly refilled her best friend's glass and gave her an encouraging smile, before walking off again.

By the end of the night, Raven had actually stopped drinking in order to maintain some coherence while talking to the girl, and once the girl had gone off for the night – after trying and failing to get Raven to go home with her, because the brunette had work in the morning – Clarke got off and dragged her best friend home.

When they got back to the apartment, Raven followed Clarke into her bedroom and collapsed onto her bed. "How did you do it?"

"What?"

"You went to Europe for a day, met a random hot girl, and somehow got her to take you around Europe for three weeks. Meanwhile, girl comes up to me, clearly interested, and I can barely fumble out any words," Raven huffed. "I'm supposed to be the cool one in this friendship."

"I didn't do anything to get Lexa to like me," Clarke insisted. "She did all the cool stuff."

"You've never actually laid it out to me – how it all happened. Didn't you say once that you'd explain it?"

"Yeah, but it's not that important," Clarke insisted, changing into her pajamas and facing away from her best friend as she did so.

"Clarke," Raven whined, frowning, and the blonde relented.

"Alright fine."

"Yay, story time!"

As Raven cuddled under Clarke's blankets, the blonde sat on the bed next to her and crossed her legs. "So, I flew in on Friday night. And then I was taking bus to the hotel, and some random guy came and sat next to me and would not stop asking about me and trying to talk to me. As you would assume, I was not in a people mood, but he wouldn't stop bothering me. And then Lexa got on the bus, and told the guy to move seats because I was her girlfriend."

Raven's eyes widened. "Damn. That's brave."

Clarke smirked and nodded. "I just said thank you and then proceeded to fall asleep on the bus, and she woke me up when we got to the hotel. Then, the next morning, she got down to the breakfast area just after I did, and there weren't any open tables so she sat with me, and we talked very briefly and then she invited me to go with her to Parliament Square."

"Wow, you're damn lucky that Lexa was interested from the get go, because you really did nothing to get her."

"Shut up," Clarke huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Please, did you do anything first?"

Clarke thought back through her relationship with Lexa, and then frowned. "I guess not. Fuck." Suddenly, the blonde's phone was wringing from where she'd set it on her nightstand. She grabbed it instinctively, and saw that it was a Face Time call from Lexa.

"Ooh, let's get her opinion on the matter," Raven exclaimed, hitting answer before Clarke could.

The blonde just hoped that her girlfriend wasn't naked.

"Hey," Lexa said, thankfully fully clothed. "Oh, hey Raven."

"Hey babe," Clarke said softly, smiling.

"Hey, Lexa," Raven added. "We were just discussing how Clarke did absolutely nothing to get with you, and that if you hadn't initiated everything, you'd both still be single and alone."

Lexa laughed, furrowing her eyebrows slightly in confusion. "Oh really?"

"You talked to her first, you asked her to go to Parliament Square with you, you asked her to go to France with her. You probably kissed her first and probably instigated sex first too, right?"

Clarke huffed. "Shut up, Rae."

"I guess that's true?" Lexa replied, clearly unsure as to whether or not she should try to defend her girlfriend. Raven grinned proudly at her best friend. "How did we get on this topic of discussion?"

"Raven was wondering how I managed to 'get you', because today a girl came up to her in the bar and she was awkward as fuck."

"I was not!"

"Were too!"

Raven pouted. "Okay... maybe I was a little. Also, you bitch, you told her girlfriend that I'm gay."

"I never said that I did that," Clarke argued, narrowing her eyes.

"But you did."

Clarke raised her eyebrows a little. "Um, yeah."

"Fuck you."

"Hey guys, I'm still here," Lexa reminded them, smirking.

Blue eyes returned to the phone screen. "I wish you were actually here."

"Me too," Raven agreed, "because then when I hear Clarke screaming like someone's actually on top of her, it would be way less weird."

"The imagination is a powerful tool," Lexa said, smirking as Clarke flushed red. Usually, she was pretty good at avoiding embarrassment when it came to talking about sex, but phone sex was something she was still pretty shy about. Understandably, she supposed.

"I guess so," Raven agreed, looking amusedly at her best friend. "Well, I should let you two have some alone time. I need to crash anyway, work tomorrow. See you tomorrow, C."

"Goodnight, Rae," Clarke replied as the brunette shimmied out of the bed and the left the room. Clarke proceeded to slide her legs under the blanket as she looked back at the phone. "How was your day?"

"Boring," Lexa admitted. "I was gonna call you right after you got off work, but I got sucked into a long rant style phone call with Anya."

"Don't worry about it," Clarke said, smiling. "I was busy dealing with a nearly drunk and very flattered and embarrassed Raven. She got some girl's number at the bar – the girl wanted to take her home, but it's Thursday and like, Rae has work in the morning, so. Plus, I'm pretty sure she felt awkward as fuck about the whole thing."

Lexa smiled fondly. "Still, I'm sorry. How was work besides the Raven stuff?"

"Fine," Clarke answered, shrugging absently. "Talked to some people, made drinks. It was a pretty normal day."

"I missed you," Lexa said, pouting at her girlfriend through the video call.

"I missed you too, babe," Clarke replied, sighing. "But we only have a little over a week before we get to see each other again."

That brought a grin to Lexa's face. "True. I'm excited." Clarke smiled widely and nodded in agreement, and then the brunette chuckled and asked, "You tired?"

"A little," Clarke replied, "but I still have to take off my makeup before I can go to bed."

"Go get ready for bed and then sleep," Lexa insisted. "I don't want you to lose sleep."

"My sleep pattern is already screwed up," Clarke countered.

"Clarke," Lexa said, giving her a serious look. "Go to sleep. You should really try and fix your sleep schedule."

"I can't," Clarke admitted, "because on weekdays I work until midnight or later, and one weekends I'm almost always up until past two in the morning. I'm already a lost cause, babe. Not everyone is used to waking up bright and early every day."

"You got pretty used to waking up bright and early in Europe."

"Yeah, but that's because I got to wake up next to you."

Lexa flushed a little. "Well, wake up early to call me then. Talking to you in the morning is my favorite way to start the day."

"Aw, how sweet and adorable and oh so sappy," Clarke said, her grin spread wide as her eyes shone. "Fine, I'll go to bed. And I'll call you if I'm up early enough."

"Okay," Lexa agreed happily. "And don't forget to plug your phone in."

"It was one time Lexa," Clarke huffed, rolling her eyes despite the smile still glued to her face.

"Yeah well, I didn't enjoy not knowing where you were for ten hours straight," Lexa huffed, furrowing her eyebrows. "Just because your phone doesn't need to be charged during the day doesn't mean that it can survive two in a row."

"I know, I know," Clarke said, her smile softening. "I love you."

"I love you too."


	10. Chapter 10

**Lol, today a guest reviewer reviewed on my 2nd story every on FF, a Brittana story, to tell me that it was "fucking stupid" and that my writing was "so ridiculously childish"... do they realize that I was literally 13 at the time? It made me laugh, I hope that they clicked on my username to mock me only to find out that I'd written 29 more stories on this site in the past 4 years since then.**

 **I reread some of this a while ago and I recall a few typos and whatnot. Just wanted to say, because I didn't in the first chapter, that I'm not editing these before transferring them, so typos were all my fault when I originally wrote this story. :P**

* * *

"Ugh, get me some shots," Harper grumbled as she plopped down at the bar in front of Clarke. It was Friday, and the blonde understood the other girl's exhaustion. It had seemed to be a long week for everyone. Everyone was supposed to be meeting up at the bar now, however, Harper was the first to arrive. Raven had gotten called into a work meeting after she'd gotten off, and Clarke hadn't heard when she'd be at the bar.

"Sure," Clarke said, smiling softly at her friend as she poured a couple of shots. "Long week?"

"The longest," Harper grumbled. "Luckily, Luke is gonna take me out tomorrow night."

"When do we get to meet this guy you keep going out with?" Clarke asked, smiling knowingly at the other blonde. Harper couldn't stop talking about this guy, but none of her friends had met him yet.

"I don't know," she replied, "sometime, I guess. We still haven't met your girlfriend."

"She'll be down next weekend," Clarke reminded her, smiling just at the thought, "so don't worry. You'll get to meet her."

"Ooh, we can all get drunk and party on Saturday – you won't be working, right?" Harper asked, grinning.

"Correct, but good luck getting Lexa drunk," Clarke said, laughing lightly. "I'll gladly drink, but she'll probably just sip whatever I give her and never ask for a refill."

The door to the bar busted open to reveal Octavia and Lincoln. "We have arrived!" the brunette exclaimed.

"Where's everyone?" Lincoln asked, eyeing Harper and her two now empty shot glasses and then looking at Clarke.

"Rae got called into a work thing. As for everyone else – who knows?"

"Bell may or may not be hooking up with someone right now – he won't answer my texts, but I think he went out about an hour ago. Thought he came here, but now that I know he didn't, I guess the other option is some club," Octavia offered up, shrugging. "Ah well, hit me up with something to lift my spirits, C!"

"Two steps ahead of you, O," Clarke said, smiling at her and Lincoln as they sat down next to Lincoln. She was already halfway through making their drinks. "How was your guys' week?"

"Boring," Octavia answered, looking to her boyfriend, who shrugged.

"Yeah, nothing really interesting went on," he agreed.

Octavia nodded. "Which is why you won't be hearing from us all weekend after tonight. We have to make part of this week more interesting."

Harper gagged exaggeratedly. "Gross."

Clarke laughed, shaking her head at her friends as she slid them two drinks. Harper gave her a pointed look, and she refilled one of her shot glasses. Just one, though, because it wasn't even ten yet.

Before anything else could be said, Raven was entering the building, a very exhausted look on her face. "Griffin, you better have something really fucking strong for me."

"I'm on it, babe," Clarke replied, immediately grabbing what she needed. "What happened?"

"You wanna know what fucking happened?" Raven huffed, crossing her arms and not even bothering to sit down. "I got fucking fired."

Octavia's jaw dropped. "The hell? Why?"

Raven cleared her throat, clearly getting ready to mock someone. "'We're sorry, Miss Reyes, but our budget for paying employees just got cut. That's not your fault of course, and someone else has already been fired because of that issue. But unfortunately, we believe that you have not been committed fully to this company as of late, and so you are one of the people we have to cut in order to keep our firm standing after the budget cuts'."

"Wait, are you serious?" Lincoln asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "Don't you dedicate so much extra time to that company?"

"Yes!" Raven exclaimed angrily. "They don't fucking get it! A bunch of ungrateful assholes born thousands of years ago or something – they don't know how technology works, so they think that since I'm a 'tech person', I should be able to instantly fix all their fucking problems. They're gonna get in deep shit trying to find someone to do the amount of work I did for them for a lower pay than what they were giving me. And you can bet your ass that I'm going to find some fucking job that's gonna pay me so much more money than that shit hole."

"Damn right," Clarke agreed, handing a full glass to her best friend, who took it gratefully and took a long drink from it. "You deserve more money for what you do anyway."

"Anyway."

Clarke was kind of glad that her friends all ended up too drunk to stay up by the time Clarke got off. She sent Harper, Lincoln and Octavia in an Uber back to their place, since Harper lived pretty close to where Octavia did, and then loaded Raven into her car and started home. It gave her enough time to call up her girlfriend for some much needed girlfriend time.

* * *

"Saturday nights suck," Lexa said to her best friend through the phone, staring up at her blank ceiling.

"What? Why?" Anya demanded.

"Clarke's always working, and I hardly ever work Saturday nights. Which means that I'm always just sitting here bored as fuck."

"You're talking to me," Anya insisted.

"Half of your attention is devoted to your computer," Lexa argued, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Lex, I'm trying to find a job."

Green eyes rolled at the obvious comment. "I know. I'm just saying, if we're not actually talking, it hardly counts as real social interaction, and therefore I am allowed to be bored by it."

"Fine, so let's go out," Anya suggested, and Lexa heard a sound that sounded like a closing laptop. "We'll get some drinks and go dancing. Call up Luna and Tristan. Maybe Quint, too, Luna's been seeing a lot of him recently."

"Yeah," Lexa said, exhaling. "Okay, yeah, let's do it. I'll meet you..."

"Half an hour, at whatever that place is called – the one Tristan used to work at," Anya answered vaguely. Luckily, Lexa did indeed know which place she meant.

"Mkay," Lexa replied, before ending the phone call so that she could drag herself up off of her ass and to her closet to find some outfit to wear. It was rare that her evening activity was drinking and dancing, but the fact that it had been so long since she'd done so with her friends, the prospect was kind of exciting.

After picking out a very clingy and tight black dress and quickly fixing her hair and makeup, she took a mirror selfie with her full height mirror and sent it to Clarke with a text message.

 **To Babe3 – Going out tonight with Anya and my friends. I wish you were here. :( I miss you, call me when you get off work!**

The response didn't come until about fifteen minutes later, as Lexa was getting into her car and heading off to the club.

 **From Babe3 – You're so hot babe! Love you, have fun, I'll get off really late so I'll text before I call. 3**

Lexa smiled softly and tossed her phone into her passenger seat.

Soon, she found herself approaching her group of friends, who were all waiting for her in front of the club. Quint was someone that Lexa had known since college, as had they all, but Luna had been hanging out with him quite a lot in the past few months. Anya was sure that they were dating by now, though Luna hadn't admitted to it. Right now, though, the four of them were talking and laughing as Lexa approached. "Hey guys!"

"Damn girl, you look hot!" Anya said, grinning at her. "Let's go get drunk, and dance, I wanna dance."

"Of course you do," Lexa muttered, rolling her eyes as Anya grabbed her arm and started tugging her into the club. About a year ago, the bouncers at the bar had stopped asking for their Ids, which on one hand was convenient, and on the other hand royally disappointing. It wasn't like they were all old looking, they just looked mature for once. At least, that was what Anya had said about it the first time it had happened. Lexa just liked to think that the bouncers recognized them from their college partying phase. At least, Anya's partying phase that Lexa had been dragged into against her will.

They found themselves squished up around the bar as Tristan took the liberty of ordering them all drinks. Lexa found something that smelled all too strong pressed into her hand, and she took a sip without thinking, before practically sputtering. "The fuck is this, Tristan?"

"Something to get you drunk for once, Lexa," Tristan replied, grinning. "Come on, you were bored, right?"

"Not bored enough," Lexa insisted, setting down the drink and instead ordering a beer from the bar. She didn't particularly like beers, but at least they tasted better than whatever the fuck had been in that glass. Beer in hand, she followed her friends out onto the dance floor. The dancing started, and Lexa found herself laughing along and dancing among her friends.

Until she suddenly felt a familiar body press against her back, and she stumbled forward immediately, turning around. Her vision fought the darkness and flashing lights in order to make out the shape of Costia's grinning face. "Don't touch me, Costia."

"Hello to you too, Lexa!" Costia chimed, still grinning. "I haven't seen you in a while. Or like... ever, actually. You loved this place in college."

"No, Anya loved this place in college," Lexa countered, narrowing her eyes. "As per usual, I am here because of Anya, not because I feel like getting drunk and hooking up."

"Aw, why not?" Costia asked, pouting.

"Because I'm in a committed relationship? Because I wouldn't want to hook up with you either way?" Lexa snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"C'mon, Lex." Costia deepened her pout, and stepped into Lexa's personal face, her front brushing against Lexa's. Lexa stepped back instinctively, scowling.

"Leave me alone, Costia."

"It has to be lonely – not having your girlfriend around ever."

Lexa was already sidestepping the other woman, and Costia didn't step in front of her. "Fuck off," she called behind her as she made her way over to the bar. She wanted to be as far away from her ex as possible right now.

She briefly asked the bartender what it was that Tristan had ordered her before, and by some stroke of luck, the guy actually remembered. He slid one over to Lexa a minute later, and she forced herself to drink a bit of it. She was angry at Costia for trying to mess with her feelings, for one, and for another, she really did miss Clarke right now.

After the one drink, though, she forced herself to even set down her beer. She wouldn't let herself get too drunk and do something stupid. Not that she would necessarily, but she hated not being able to be in control of herself.

"Where'd you go?" Luna asked, once Lexa finally rejoined her friends.

"Avoiding Costia," she answered loudly over the music, "she showed up."

"Who did?" Anya asked, pushing into their space in order to join the conversation.

"Costia."

"Fuck that!" Tristan exclaimed. "Let's go somewhere else if that bitch is here."

That's how Lexa found herself being dragged out of one club and to another, where she adamantly refused more drinks just to end up taking a shot. Now that Costia was definitely not around, she felt a little more relaxed anyway.

They were out for a while, and it was past one in the morning when Lexa felt a text come through her phone.

 **From Babe 3 – I'm off, can I call you?**

Lexa immediately pushed past the people around her and left the club, hitting call on her girlfriend's contact instead of answering the text. The call was answered almost immediately. "Hey, babe," Clarke greeted softly.

"Hey," Lexa replied, smiling as she leaned against the wall and breathed in the polluted air of New York City. "How was work?"

"Fine," Clarke replied, her voice sounding a bit funny. "Have you been drinking, babe?"

"Why do you ask that?" Lexa asked.

"Your words are all slurred together, Lexa," Clarke replied, laughing lightly. "You're with your friends, right?"

"Well, not right now, because I came outside to talk to you," Lexa explained. "And yeah, I may have had a little to drink. I wasn't going to, but then fucking Costia was trying to –"

"Costia, your ex?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah. She showed up at the club we were at," Lexa answered, "and proceeded to piss me off, so we left. We're at a different place now, I don't know."

"Mm," Clarke hummed. "Do you have work tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Lexa replied, "but not until the afternoon I think."

"Maybe you should go home soon," Clarke said, sounding amused. "You're gonna have a headache in the morning."

"I'm not that drunk."

"So? You never drink like, anything," the blonde reminded her pointedly.

"Okay, maybe you're right."

"Of course I am. I deal with alcohol all the time," Clarke teased. "I guess I'm the professional now."

"You've been working as a bartender for what, two years? I don't think that makes you a professional," Lexa bit back playfully, grinning.

"More of a professional than you," Clarke insisted, "and I'm very good at what I do."

"Mm, I know," Lexa replied, her mind on something totally different than alcohol this time.

There was a bright laugh on the other end of the phone. "Get your mind out of the gutter, babe. I meant making drinks."

"Boring," Lexa teased, feeling quite relaxed. Suddenly, her friends came busting out of the club.

"There you are, Lexa!" Anya exclaimed. "C'mon, we're gonna go back to Tristan's!"

"I'm gonna head home," Lexa told them, shaking her head and coming to her senses a bit. They were clearly far more intoxicated than she was. "I have work tomorrow."

"Suit yourself, see you!" Anya said, and then the four of them all called goodbye to the brunette, who gave them a wave.

"How you getting home?" Clarke asked.

"I'll take a cab," Lexa replied, smiling to herself. "I'll have to get a cab back to where I left my car tomorrow morning, though. I really should've thought this through."

"You should have," Clarke teased.

Lexa hailed a cab as she said, "I don't need your teasing, Clarke."

Clarke laughed. "I don't see the harm," she countered. "You're gonna stay on the phone with me while you're on the way home, right?"

"Sure," Lexa agreed. "Why, worried about me?"

"Of course," Clarke chided. "I've seen you this drunk once – when we were in Europe and I got you drunk. But we were in our room that whole night, there was no traveling involved. And I need to make sure that you stay in one piece so that the next time I see you isn't in a hospital room."

"Okay," is all Lexa said, a wide grin across her face. A cab stopped in front of her, and she climbed in the back, quickly giving the driver her address. She settled into the backseat, her girlfriend's voice coming from the phone as the blonde launched into a story about her day.

* * *

"We should go get drinks tonight!" Raven exclaimed, looking over at her best friend with enthusiasm.

"No way," Clarke huffed, rolling her eyes. "I already had to take care of you losers on Friday night, and last night Lexa went out a got drunk, which was totally weird. I'm not about to spend another night taking care of intoxicated people."

"Aw, Griffin," Raven whined, sprawling across where Clarke was settled on the couch, covering her sketchbook with her dark hair. "Please?"

"Oh, I have an idea," Clarke said, smiling pointedly at her friend. "How about you shoot that girl you were talking to a text and see if she wants to go get drinks with you?"

"What? Valerie from the bar?"

"Yeah," Clarke confirmed. "Have you texted her since Thursday?"

"She texted me yesterday," Raven replied, "and I answered. We talked for like twenty minutes. No big deal."

"Ask her if she wants to go out with you tonight," Clarke prompted. "Because I am not going out. I'll take care of drunk you if you're here, but I don't want to be keeping track of you all night. And I have a feeling that if you were out with that Valerie or whatever, you wouldn't be getting plastered."

"Exactly, C, and I wanna get plastered," Raven insisted.

"Rae, no."

"Clarke, yes."

Huffing, the blonde slid her sketchbook out from under Raven's head and tossed it aside, making a break to grab the brunette's phone from her pocket. Raven squealed as she realized what Clarke was doing.

"Clarke!" Raven protested.

Clarke unlocked the phone and opened her text messages. Sure enough, there was a short text conversation with a girl named Valerie at almost the top of the list of conversations. "She seems decent."

"She's boring," Raven insisted. "I mean, she's cute and she's clearly interested, but she'd boring. Do you see that conversation? Totally not stimulating at all."

"You may as well give it a shot?" Clarke suggested, raising her eyebrow at her best friend. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen? You decide that you don't want to go out with her again, and you delete her number."

Raven searched her friend's blue eyes, and then relented. "Okay, fine. Give me the phone."

Clarke watched as Raven typed out a message.

 **To Valerie – Feel like getting a drink later?**

The response was almost immediate.

 **From Valerie – Sure! Time? ;)**

"She's eager," Clarke commented. Raven rolled her eyes.

 **To Valerie – Seven?**

 **From Valerie – Works for me, see you then cutie ;)**

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Clarke asked pointedly, smiling at her friend.

"I guess not. But I can almost guarantee that I won't want a second date with her," Raven insisted.

"Okay, so then this ends up as just one date. Dating isn't a bad thing, Rae. It's a normal thing."

Raven narrowed her eyes. "You never just dated anyone. You met Finn and almost immediately got with him. Same with Lexa."

"Then I'm an anomaly, Rae."

"Fine," Raven muttered, shaking her head. "Whatever, I'll go."

"Yay!" Clarke exclaimed, grinning. "You haven't been on a date in forever, Rae, it'll be good for you."

"Yeah, yeah," Raven groaned. "Whatever."


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of the week couldn't have gone by fast enough – though Clarke and Lexa were both pleased when it seemed to go slightly faster than normal. Both of them were very excited for Lexa to come down to DC. After seeing each other just three weeks earlier, they knew that it was going to become increasingly harder for them to be apart for extended periods of time.

On Wednesday, during Lexa and Clarke's phone call late at night, the brunette had asked Clarke if it was okay if Anya were to come down to DC as well. Clarke had agreed easily – she definitely had no problem with Anya staying with them as well. Though, as she told Lexa, she'd have to sleep on the couch in Clarke and Raven's apartment. Apparently, that hadn't stopped Anya. The blonde questioned briefly why Lexa's best friend wanted to come to DC, but she only received a vague answer that basically summed up to "Anya's weird, she really had no reason for anything she does".

Nevertheless, Clarke was sure that she and Lexa would have to kick both Raven and Anya out of the apartment at some point during the weekend – or else the blonde would never hear the end of it from Raven, because she planned on having at least five hours worth of sex with her girlfriend. Atleast.

Aside from that, the only other interesting thing that happened in the quick five days was Raven's second date with Valerie, before she decided that there was no way that there would be a third date. According to Clarke's best friend - "The girl is so boring. I can hardly force myself to pay attention to her. This is why dating is stupid, Clarke." And with that, Clarke decided that maybe it was best if she avoided trying to give her best friend dating advice.

* * *

Clarke was up early on Friday morning, practically bouncing on her heels as she made sure that the apartment was somewhat presentable. When Lexa had seen it last, the living room had been chock full of Clarke's stuff in boxes. Not to mention, it hadn't been her apartment in the slightest then, so now that she had the opportunity to clean it up to show off that she could be somewhat as neat as her girlfriend, she was definitely taking it.

She tried to force Raven to help her, but her best friend – mostly annoyed at having been awoken early when she didn't even have to work – only sat on the couch and scrolled through Instagram while Clarke bustled around her. Finally, though, when Clarke deemed her surroundings appropriate, she sat down on the couch next to her best friend. "So, did you get a call about that job you applied for on Monday?"

"Not yet," Raven replied, "but they said anywhere from four to ten days, so it could be next week. I'm actually really hoping that I get it, though. An IT position at a respectable company that will actually pay decently sounds like a gift from the gods."

"I hope you get it, too," Clarke agreed, spreading her legs across the couch and invading Raven's space. Her best friend didn't even argue, and let Clarke lay across the couch and stare up at the ceiling.

"Are you nervous or something?"

"Huh?"

"Your foot is like shaking," Raven replied, poking the blonde's foot, which was nestled in her lap.

"Oh, I didn't notice."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Why are you so nervous? She's been here before, and it's not like I haven't met her before. And I'm sure from what you've told me, Anya and I will get along just fine."

"It's not about you," Clarke insisted, shaking her head. "I'm thinking about tonight at the bar – because I have work and I just know that everyone's going to bombard Lexa while I can't do anything to keep her from everyone's prying questions."

"I'll protect her," Raven declared, grinning. "Best friend duty and all."

Clarke couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. "Thanks. Maybe I'm just afraid that they won't like her."

"Babe," Raven started, sounding like she thought that Clarke's fear was completely unnecessary, "your girlfriend is like an angel. Everyone will love her. Trust me."

"I guess she is pretty fucking great," Clarke agreed, sighing happily. Suddenly, her phone vibrated.

 **From Unknown Number – Yo blondie, Lex can't remember where your apartment is. Address, now.**

There was no question who that was. She quickly saved the number as Anya's and then began typing out her address in response. After sending it, she looked back at Raven, who was now looking back at her phone. Sighing, she turned her eyes toward the ceiling. Yeah, maybe she was a little nervous.

About ten minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door, followed by a much more obnoxious one. Clarke felt a smile splitting across her face as she hopped up off of the couch – nearly kicking her best friend in the face much to Raven's dismay. She opened the door excitedly and saw both Lexa and Anya standing in front of her hey.

"Hey!" Clarke said, aware that her excitement was easily heard in her voice.

"Hey," Lexa returned, stepping forward and joining their lips without hesitation. As Clarke eagerly kissed her back, she heard Anya scoff and step into the apartment.

"Ugh, so grossly adorable," Raven groaned from the couch.

"At least you've never walked in on them getting it on," Anya insisted.

Clarke pulled away from her girlfriend despite herself and grabbed her hand, pulling her fully into the apartment. Lexa had a bag in her other hand, which Clarke took and brought to her room without question. Anya had already taken the liberty of tossing her bag onto the floor in the living room.

"You must be Anya," she heard Raven saying to Lexa's best friend.

"Yep, and you're Raven, I assume?"

"You guys should get along nicely," Lexa commented as Clarke came back over to the three, "since you both enjoy teasing us about sex."

Raven did her best to scowl. "It's really hard not to when I have to hear Clarke moaning all the time in her room when you're not even here."

Anya snickered. "I'm so glad I don't live with Lexa."

Clarke looked to her girlfriend with a grin. "Well, this should be fun."

* * *

"Alright, so I suppose that at this point, I kind of have to admit that you are actually a bartender," Lexa was saying as Clarke mixed her a drink – one she was sure Lexa would make last for at least an hour. Raven and Anya were also seated at the bar, but they were currently in a huge debate over which one of them was more screwed by the loss of their job – Lexa had accidentally mentioned that they'd both done so, and the two of them had taken off from there. It was kind of amusing to Clarke how much their best friends were alike.

"Finally," Clarke said, grinning at her girlfriend as she slid her the glass. "I deserve recognition for my talents."

"I think I've given you plenty of recognition for many of your talents," Lexa insisted, a small smirk on her face.

"You're so dirty," Clarke teased, laughing and shaking her head.

"Hey Griffin," Raven said suddenly, "O just texted. Prepare for the beasts in five, four, three..."

Before she could finish her countdown, the entrance to the bar swung open and Clarke's friends came flooding in. "Oh god," she muttered, before looking back to her girlfriend. "Good luck with them, babe."

Lexa's eyes were slightly widened, and Clarke smiled a little as she began to make her friends' drinks and they bombarded her girlfriend.

"Oh my god! Lexa's real!" Harper exclaimed.

"I'm real," Lexa confirmed, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm Harper," the blonde introduced. "This is Jasper and this is Monty."

"Ignore their googly eyes, by the way," Octavia added. "They stare at women like it's their jobs. Especially since the girl Jasper has been dating recently dumped him."

"Eyes up, Jasper," Clarke snapped in a low voice, and her friend blinked and looked away from Lexa's chest. The brunette was blushing by now.

Octavia laughed and continued, "This is Lincoln, my boyfriend. And this is Bellamy, my brother."

"Nice to meet you all," Lexa said politely. "Ah, this is Anya, my best friend."

"Nice to meet you, pretty lady," Jasper said, his grin wide.

Anya scoffed. "I am so far out of your league, kid."

* * *

Lexa had to admit that meeting all of Clarke's friends at once was kind of terrifying, especially since the blonde was working. It was when she had to go off to another part of the bar that it was the weirdest, but at the same time, she felt strangely comfortable there. "So, you're a photographer, right Lexa?" Bellamy was asking her. If she hadn't known better, she would've thought that Bellamy was Clarke's brother rather than Octavia's. He seemed to be very steeled when it came to Lexa, and she naturally assumed that it was one of the brotherly friend things.

"Yeah," Lexa replied, nodding. "Not really full time, but yes."

"Not that she needs to work," Raven said, "she's loaded."

"Not loaded," Lexa argued, rolling her eyes.

Anya smirked. "Have you even looked into your savings account recently, Lex? You invested that money before anyone could suggest otherwise – you have to have gotten some increase since then."

"Except that four months ago I went on a European vacation and spent a chunk of that money," Lexa reminded her friend, shaking her head. "I'm seriously not loaded."

"Whatever you say," Raven said, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey, Lexa," Harper asked suddenly, leaning forward in order to look at the brunette from a few seats over at the bar, "is Clarke a bottom or a top? Monty and I have been betting about this for years, but Finn would never tell us."

Lexa was slightly surprised when mention of Clarke's ex hardly shook her – she'd never actually met the guy and Clarke had been pretty much over him by the time Lexa had met her. Instead, Lexa just blushed a little from the comment. "Um..."

"Come on, tell us!" Octavia agreed, grinning.

"Is that even a question?" Raven demanded. "She's such a bottom."

"She kind of is," Lexa admitted.

Monty let out a triumphant laugh. "You owe me ten bucks, Harper!"

"Damn it," Harper muttered, digging into her pockets for a ten.

"I'm not really surprised," Anya stated. "I mean, besides the fact that my first impression of Clarke was literally you fucking her –"

"Anya!" Lexa chided, furrowing her eyebrows.

" -you've always been a top, so."

"But you seem like a bottom," Octavia said to the brunette, raising an eyebrow as she took a drink. "So that's actually a little surprising."

"Tell me you can't picture Lexa topping you." Raven rolled her eyes, as if the image was obvious, and Lexa flushed. She wasn't usually uncomfortable at all about talking about sex or her body or anything, but because she was surrounded by Clarke's best friends, she felt a little more nervous than normal.

"Pretty sure that's just you, Gay-ven," Harper teased, grin wide.

Raven's face immediately steeled over and she took back the rest of her drink in one gulp. Clarke came back over at the same time, and looked with concern at her best friend. "What did you do to Rae this time, Harper?"

"Nothing!" Harper explained. "It's not my fault that she –"

"Shut the fuck up Harper," Raven snapped. "I can be as gay as I fucking want without you making some huge deal about it every weekend."

The group was suddenly silent, and Lexa found herself coughing awkwardly, trying to break the tension maybe. Harper let out a sigh. "Rae, why didn't you say anything about it?"

"Does it even matter?" Raven snapped, looking at Clarke desperately, and the blonde began making another drink for her.

"It matters if it's been bothering you every time I said something," Harper insisted. "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven," Raven insisted, waving her hand. "Can we please get back to the conversation? All of your beady eyes on me is making me uncomfortable."

The conversation picked up again, slowly, as Lincoln made an effort to ask Lexa about her job at the museum. Lexa talked about it even though she'd rather not think about work, for Raven's sake. After Clarke's best friend had gotten her drink, she saw Octavia pull her aside to talk to her. Lexa hadn't been sure whether or not Raven had told anyone but Clarke, but now she could assume that none of their friends had known.

Anya was strangely quiet, though, and whenever the conversation finally drifted away from Lexa, she looked to her best friend with curiosity. "What has you so quiet?"

"Nothing," Anya said quickly, shaking her head. "I guess sometimes I just forget that for some people, coming out is actually a big deal. Like, when I came out to you and my family, it was because I just brought a girl to that one house party my parents had and we started making out. And when you came out, you weren't shy about it at all either. I just forget, I guess."

"I'm pretty sure there's a long story behind all of the stuff with Raven," Lexa admitted, still curious as to why the issue had her best friend so unusually quiet.

"Hmm."

The rest of the night went much more smoothly, with very little animosity or anything going on. Lexa found that she got along quite well with most of Clarke's friends. Harper was a little much, but she was nice. Bellamy, despite how hesitant he seemed toward Lexa, was nice enough. Lincoln was easy to have conversation with, which was nice. Perhaps the hardest to get along with was Jasper, though his friend Monty was fine, because the guy could hardly get any words out to here that didn't have to do with how hot she was. She was sure that would pass, however.

When Clarke's shift was over, Harper suggested rather excitedly that they all go back to her place and party, but Clarke's hand was firmly wrapped in Lexa's as she shook her head. Raven and Anya went with the rest of the group, however, while Clarke took Lexa back to her apartment.

"You don't feel like partying?" Lexa asked her, though she definitely didn't mind the refusal of the plans.

"I feel like a different kind of partying," Clarke explained, "with you, in my bed."

"Mm, that sounds like a much better party," Lexa said, her eyes darkening as they got to Clarke's car.

"Trust me, it will be."

* * *

Clarke wiggled in her position, waking slowly and realizing that a body was pressed to hers. A smile slowly came to her lips as she remembered that Lexa was here with her. Her room was still dark, courtesy of the lack of windows. She didn't mind, though. Light was intrusive to sleep, after all.

She rolled over, situating herself so that she was now looking at her naked girlfriend. "Lexa," she whispered, getting no physical response from the brunette. Clearly, she was still very asleep. Clarke thought back to the things they'd done the previous night – definitely enough to make Lexa this tired. She hadn't said anything, but she'd heard her friends asking Lexa whether she was a top or a bottom, and after Lexa had agreed with Raven that Clarke was indeed a bottom, she had been bent on proving to her girlfriend that she could definitely be a top. She knew that Lexa already knew that, but something in her had told her to prove it to the brunette. And she was sure that she'd made her point.

She curled into the other woman and felt herself being pulled back into sleep without even really meaning to.

The next time she woke up, it was to Lexa sitting on top of her, pressing warm, fluttery kisses across her chest. "Lexa," she murmured sleepily, tensing slightly as she felt warm hands gently trace the sides of her body.

"Good morning," Lexa whispered against her skin.

"What time is it?"

"Not late enough for you to try to get me to stop," the brunette replied with determination, her lips moving lower suddenly.

"Aren't you tired?"

"Mm." Lexa didn't answer one way or the other, so Clarke took it as a 'yes I am, but that doesn't mean I don't want to fuck you' sort of answer. Sure enough, the brunette was now pushing her thighs apart and lowering herself in between them. Clarke felt her hips moving against her will, but her body was reacting faster than her sleepy brain at this point.

"Lexa," she grunted as Lexa placed her lips on the inside of Clarke's thigh.

"Mmhmm?"

"Please," Clarke murmured, her mind waking up now as her hips tried to thrust downward at her girlfriend's face. Lexa complied with the blonde's wants, her tongue meeting Clarke's clit softly. The blonde jerked at the contact anyway, and they fell into a steady rhythm as Lexa's fingers joined her tongue between Clarke's legs. "Fuck, Lexa."

Lexa hummed, vibrating her core and causing her to moan again. Despite the previous night and how tired she was, it took her only another couple of minutes before she was coming, screaming out in pleasure and then falling, relaxed, into her mattress.

"Good morning to you too," Clarke murmured, as Lexa crawled back up her body and straddled her.

"Morning," Lexa said, grinning cheekily. "I couldn't help it. You're very sexy."

"Thanks." Clarke fluttered her eyelashes cutely at her girlfriend, aware that her blue eyes were probably very sleepy looking even still.

There was a loud knock on the door. "Are you two sex fiends done? I have some good news to share if so." It was Raven.

Clarke gently pushed Lexa off of her and they both crawled under the covers. "We're done! Come on in!"

The door busted open, and a grinning Raven rushed into the room, flopping on to the end of the bed despite the fact that Lexa and Clarke were both clearly undressed under the blanket. "Guess what!" Raven exclaimed, grinning at her best friend.

Clarke thought for a moment, and then her eyes lit up. "Did that job call you back!"

"Fuck yeah they did!" Raven exclaimed. "And you are now looking at a newly reemployed woman!"

"That's awesome, Rae!" Clarke said, smiling widely. "You really deserve that job."

"Congratulations," Lexa added. Raven flashed the brunette a grin as well.

"We have to celebrate tonight! We should go clubbing," Raven insisted. "We can all go out and it'll be super fun! And we can force Harper to bring that Luke guy she's been dating that none of us have met! Please please please?"

"Rae, you are a grown woman, you don't need my permission to go clubbing," Clarke reminded her, amused.

"Please will you go?"

Clarke hesitated, because she wasn't sure about how Lexa would feel about going clubbing. She knew that her girlfriend had just gone clubbing the previous weekend, and Lexa wasn't one to get drunk and party more than once in a long while. But before she could answer, her girlfriend was saying, "We'll go."

"Yes!" Raven exclaimed, jumping up excitedly.

"The fuck are we celebrating?" Anya muttered, stumbling into the room. "And how the fuck are you so wide away and happy, Raven? We were both hammered and went to bed so late."

"I woke up a while ago and fixed myself up," Raven answered, waving her hand. "I've gotta call O!"

"Wait, what are we celebrating?"

"You are officially now the only one in this room unemployed," Lexa answered dryly, raising an eyebrow at her best friend.

Anya huffed. "Great."

Clarke coughed awkwardly. "Alright so... could you guys like, leave the room now? We're kinda like... without clothing."

Anya and Raven left the room, after the latter reminded them not to stay in bed all day, and then Clarke made to get up and change. Lexa, however, seemed to have a different idea, and was suddenly holding the blonde to the bed by straddling her once again.

"Seriously? You are such a sex addict, Lexa."

"I've never heard you complain about that before."

Clarke smirked. "Alright, we can have one more round... and then we can have another in the shower so that I can return the favor. And then we are getting up. Fair?"

"Fair."


	12. Chapter 12

"I like it," Lexa insisted, sprawled across Clarke's couch. "It's homey."

"I like your apartment more," Clarke admitted, "but that might just be because you don't have to share it with any annoying best friends."

"I heard that!" Raven's voice called from her room. Anya was currently in the bathroom, and it was starting to get later into the afternoon. Clarke and Lexa's "one more round" had turned into a few more, until Clarke's phone had started ringing with a call from her boss. He'd asked her if she was busy, and when she mumbled out something about being off because of her girlfriend being in town, he had immediately assured her that what he wanted to talk about could wait. That had broken the couple out of their sex marathon, though, and then they slipped into the shower – together, and they hadn't even tried to avoid touching each other.

The blonde was coming over the from kitchen now, two glasses of wine in her hands. Maybe they were kicking off the drinking a bit early, considering that in a handful of hours they were going to be dragged out to party in celebration of Raven's new job. But Clarke couldn't help herself, and she'd specifically purchased wine that she knew from experience Lexa would enjoy. She handed her girlfriend the glass. The brunette then sat up, taking a long sip, and allowed Clarke to sit where her head had been. When the blonde was seated, Lexa laid her head in the woman's lap and sighed contently as Clarke began to thread her fingers through dark, curly locks.

"This is good wine," Lexa commented, her eyes just having flickered closed.

"I remembered you drinking something like it in Europe," Clarke admitted, "at dinner once."

Lexa grinned widely. "Well, thank you. And by the way, there's no way that you're getting me drunk tonight."

"As long as you're going to dance with me when Rae makes us dance, I don't care whether you're drinking or not," Clarke promised, smiling as well even though Lexa's eyes were still closed. "I'm pretty sure that Harper is bent on getting you drunk, but since her new boyfriend is coming, I think she'll probably be keeping herself in check a little more. Anyway, I think that you only mention it because you want me to try and get you drunk."

"Why on Earth would I do that?" Lexa asked, laughing as her green eyes fluttered open and looked up at the blonde.

Clarke shrugged. "Reverse psychology?"

"You're crazy," Lexa murmured, sitting up a little as she took another sip of her wine. The glass was cradled in her lap, even as she was laying down. "Mm, I could get used to this."

"What? Wine?"

"Yes," Lexa answered, smirking a little before adding, "with you, without thinking about certain other things."

"Smooth, Lexa, mentioning those other things right when neither of us were thinking about them," Clarke teased, smiling sadly.

They heard Anya come out of Raven's bathroom and then she emerged from the girl's room, her gaze falling on Clarke and Lexa. "Do you guys really have to be so sickeningly cute?"

"No," Lexa answered, "but if it bothers you, then we'll definitely keep on doing it."

"Fuck off," Anya muttered, trudging into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. "I'm stealing food from your fridge."

"Or," Raven exclaimed, suddenly jumping out of her room, "we could all go out for a late lunch, early dinner sort of thing! O and Bell are down for lunch too. Lincoln's working so he'll just show up for clubbing later, same with Harper and her Luke guy. And Jas and Monty have already been partying all day – of course."

Anya let out a groan. "Food sounds great, you guys have nothing good in your fridge at all."

"That's because Raven was in charge of buying food this week, and she she can't be trusted with groceries," Clarke claimed.

"Then why do you let her shop for them?" Lexa asked, smirking.

"Because I'm lazy," Clarke replied, laughing a little and grinning at her girlfriend.

"Whatever," Raven huffed out, "so, food? Yes or no, my gay friends, time's a-ticking."

"I'm bi, Rae," Clarke said, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, let's do –" Clarke's phone started ringing, and she glanced down at it. "Oh, it's my mom. Hold on."

She answered the phone to immediately hear her mother speaking quickly, "Clarke! I heard from Octavia's mother that Lexa is in town, because she heard from Octavia and was kind enough to message me on Facebook assuming that I would've already met her by now. And I thought that was rather interesting, because I too thought that you would've at least let me know that your girlfriend who you met in Europe four months ago was here so that your mother could finally meet her."

Clarke coughed awkwardly. "Ah, right, yeah."

"So do you have plans right now?"

Clarke glanced between her girlfriend and her best friend, who were both looking at her with interest. Raven looked like she probably knew what the conversation was. Clarke's mom had texted the blonde a handful of times over the past few months, always wondering when Lexa was going to be around so that she could meet her. Even though all of Clarke's friends had officially met her, and it had been confirmed that she wasn't some creepy stalker or serial killer, Clarke knew that her mom wouldn't calm down about it until she'd met Lexa herself. "I guess we do now."

"Good," Abby said triumphantly. "Have you two eaten lunch yet?"

"Nope."

"Why don't you guys come over for lunch – I was about to make a late one. And feel free to bring Raven and whoever – I don't want to make your girlfriend uncomfortable."

"Sure, mom," Clarke agreed, trying not to sigh. "See you soon." She ended the phone call before anything else could be said.

"See you soon?" Anya asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Tell Octavia and Bellamy that lunch location has been changed – we are going to my mom's house."

* * *

"Haven't you drawn this house before?" Lexa asked, looking at the front of the house with curiosity. Clarke raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, a lot. You been snooping in my drawings, babe?"

"I may have a little this morning," Lexa admitted, grinning. "But they're amazing, so I don't know how you expect me to not."

Raven was already on her way up to the front door, and Anya was walking behind her begrudgingly. Lexa insisted that she would be completely respectful once they actually met Clarke's mom, but Lexa's best friend was, at the moment, very bummed about being thrown into an awkward social encounter. Clarke could hardly blame her.

Bellamy and Octavia had agreed to join them, and Clarke was grateful, because she knew that her friends were all only doing it for her sake. Not that they didn't love Abby, because Clarke's mom was really not bad at all and she loved all of the blonde's friends. But Abby was a little bit smudged the wrong way after not getting to meet Lexa for the half day she spent in DC.

The door was opening before Clarke knew it, and her mother was standing there with a bright smile on her face. "Clarke," she greeted, grabbing the younger girl in a hug. It actually had been a couple of weeks since they'd seen each other, and Clarke liked to at least talk to her mom every once in awhile. After returning the hug, she backed up a bit.

"Hey, mom," she said softly, smiling. "This is Lexa. Lexa, this is my mom. And this is Lexa's best friend Anya."

"It's nice to meet you girls," Abby said, smiling at both of them and pointedly extending a hand toward Clarke's girlfriend.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Griffin," Lexa said, seemingly at ease. Clarke was glad that her girlfriend at least was relatively put together, because Clarke was slightly worried about her mom. She had a sneaking suspicion that she would bring up Europe and somehow make it out to be weird, or awkward. She knew that that was how her mom had thought about the whole thing when it had been happening, and even now probably. Clarke just wanted to keep everything as civil and easy as possible.

"Well come on in girls," Abby said, stepping back and pushing open the door so that everyone could come in.

"Octavia and Bellamy are also coming, they'll be here soon," Raven informed her, and Abby smiled and nodded.

"I guess they couldn't resist my cooking."

Clarke scoffed. "Hah, mom, I don't think that's the reason they're coming over."

Abby raised an eyebrow at her daughter as she led the four of them into the dining room of the house. Plates and silverware were all piled in the center, and Abby began to set them out around the table. Unsurprisingly to Clarke, Lexa began to help her, and Clarke did as well, and so it took only a handful of seconds.

"As I recall, Clarke," Abby started, "you are still worse of a cook than I am."

"Roasted," Anya said, smirking.

"She makes some pretty great drinks, though," Raven justified, grinning at her best friend. "But yeah, the cooking thing. Nah."

"I'm perfectly fine with eating out all the time," Clarke huffed out, crossing her arms indignantly.

"Yeah, me too," Lexa said, though the smirk that she was trying to hide was obvious, and Raven and Anya broke out into laughter as Clarke turned beet red.

"Lexa!"

Abby rolled her eyes. "Sometimes you all still act like teenagers."

"Lexa and Anya are both proof that we'll never change," Raven joked, grinning at Anya, who scoffed.

Lexa voiced on their behalf, "We're not that much older than you."

"How old are you Lexa?" Abby asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. By now, they had seated themselves with Abby at the head of the table and Clarke on one side with Lexa, while Raven and Anya were on the other side. Two place settings were left out at the other end of the table for Octavia and Bellamy.

"Twenty-six," Lexa replied, smiling gently.

Abby looked to Raven. "You better not be calling her old, Raven, because that makes me a dinosaur."

"Of course not, Abby," Raven insisted, grinning toothily.

Suddenly, the doorbell rung, and Clarke hopped up. "I'll get it."

"Okay, while you do that, I'll get the food," Abby agreed, nodding as she also got up.

A few minutes later, all seven of them were seated around the table, eating food that was clearly not Abby's own creation. It wasn't half bad, though, which was at least better than it being awful.

Even the conversation wasn't too bad – at least, it didn't start too bad.

Abby asked the typical questions – was Lexa born in New York, what was her family like, what did she do for a living. Somehow, and Clarke was thankful for this, she made it less like an interrogation and more of a friendly conversation. That was one thing that Clarke liked about her mom – she wasn't necessarily the prying type. If she were, she would've probably hijacked Clarke's phone months ago in order to call up Lexa and make sure that she was a legitimate person.

The questions did start to get a little uncomfortable, though, after a little while when they were all nearly done eating.

"So, I know that you two met in Europe. You were there for a photo commission or something like that, yeah?"

"Yes," Lexa confirmed, nodding. "I have an exhibition up at an art gallery in New York City right now."

"It's pretty cool," Clarke added brightly. She and her friends had been adding to the conversation whenever possible, because though Abby was clearly focused on speaking to Lexa, none of them wanted to the brunette to be stuck in that position. So far, things had gone smoothly that way. As soon as Europe was mentioned, it became immediately harder for the four of them who hadn't been there to help ease the awkwardness.

"How is it you managed to afford such a crazy vacation on your own?"

"Mom," Clarke started, not wanting to make Lexa answer questions about that, but the brunette was answering before she could continue protesting.

"My grandparents left me a lot of money when they died a few years ago. And I've invested lots of it and I'm trying to save it rather than blow it, but Europe was worth a splurge. Plus, it was to help with a job, which made it feel more worth it. In retrospect, of course, it was worth every cent." She added the last part with the flash of a grin to Clarke, and the blonde blushed lightly. Lexa was almost too good at answering the questions. Clarke had no idea how she'd gotten a hold of someone so fucking amazing.

"So you two actually... completely got together while you were in Europe?"

"Yes, mom," Clarke answered quickly, willing her mom to stop following the path of questions that she was on.

"In a period of three weeks, you did... what exactly?"

Lexa flushed and glanced over at the blonde, and Clarke knew that she couldn't leave her girlfriend hanging. "We were basically living with each other for three weeks. I mean, that's a lot of time to get to know someone..."

"In more than one way," Octavia added under her breath as she faked a cough, and Clarke shot her a glare. Bellamy, Raven and Anya were all smirking as well.

"So how come you two went a whole three months not visiting each other?"

Clarke was immediately relieved to hear that the Europe questions were over, but Clarke still rushed to answer this question. "Well, I didn't really have a solid place to live, so I guess I kind of needed to get that situated."

"Plus, I was busy pulling some extra shifts at the museum and also getting my exhibit together," Lexa added, as if she didn't want to make it seem like Clarke's fault. The blonde appreciated that.

At that point, Raven had gotten a text message and immediately announced that Harper and "her Luke" were ready to go out, and so they were going to have to leave. Abby gave Clarke a goodbye hug, and shook Lexa's hand again after insisting that the brunette could now call her Abby. Lexa seemed pleased by that, and Clarke definitely wasn't mad at how the afternoon had played out.

* * *

"It's nice to finally fucking meet you," Raven said to the blonde guy standing next to Harper, who was wearing a grin across her face.

"Likewise," he said, smiling at all of Harper's friends. He didn't seem at all surprised by the looseness of the group, which made sense considering who he was dating. Jasper and Monty were already pretty drunk, and Clarke was feeling clingy as fuck. Her fingers were already intertwined with Lexa's, and they hadn't even gone into the club yet.

"Yes, yes," Bellamy said, "we've met Luke, and he's awesome, let's go drink."

"Agreed!" Harper exclaimed, grabbing her boyfriend's hand and dragging him up to the club entrance. Everyone was on their heels, and they all flashed the bouncer their Ids, Lexa and Anya included, much to their approval.

"Get me something strong Griffin, I gotta pee," Raven called, splitting off from the group suddenly and heading toward the bathroom. Clarke gently tugged her girlfriend to the bar.

"You don't want anything?" Clarke asked, looking at Lexa with glowing blue eyes.

"I guess I'll take something. Lunch with your mom actually kinda freaked me out."

Clarke chuckled. "You played it very well, babe," she insisted, before turning to the bartender and ordering her and Lexa each a sweet cocktail – one that she was sure her girlfriend would approve of – as well as something stronger for her best friend. As the bartender started making drinks, she looked back to Lexa. "And you're actually quite lucky. If my mom hadn't approved of you, she probably would've drilled you about intentions and all that shit. She's usually not that kind of person, but she actually did that to Finn when I was dating him. I wasn't there at the time, though, and I didn't find out until months later."

"Well, I guess I'm glad things went the way they did then," Lexa said, smiling softly.

"Me too," Clarke said. "I was kinda stressed out for you to meet my mom, too, actually. That's kind of why I didn't really bring it up myself. Even though I totally should of – she's been bouncing on her heels pretty much, waiting for you to come down here at some point. She would've been so pissed at me if I she hadn't gotten to meet you this weekend."

"I'm glad to have gotten it over with."

Raven suddenly appeared next to them just as the bartender was sliding them three drinks. Clarke paid him quickly and then passed one of the cocktails to her girlfriend, and the third drink to Raven. "You guys are planning on dancing right? I plan on finding some chick to grind on at least."

"Try Anya," Lexa offered, smirking, "that's the only kind of dancing she understands."

"Noted," Raven said, grinning devilishly. "But you two will dance, right?"

Clarke glanced at her girlfriend. "I'm pretty sure I made you promise to dance with me, didn't I?"

"Actually, you stated that and then never made me actually promise."

Blue eyes rolled and then looked back to Raven. "We're going to be dancing. Let us get the alcohol set in a little first."

"Alright! See you out there, babes!" Raven said, before suddenly downing her whole glass and setting it down, disappearing into the crowd.

"Your best friend is crazy," Lexa informed the blonde, who laughed loudly and nodded.

"Trust me, I know."

They stood talking a little, and Clarke admitted that the club scene wasn't entirely her sort of place to be. She much preferred the calmer feeling of a bar, but she didn't mind clubs when she was either single enough to dance with strangers, or committed enough to dance with one person the whole time. Lexa seemed to understand that.

When they were both about finished with their drinks, they set the glasses down and Clarke pulled her beautiful photographer onto the dance floor with her. Neither of them were extremely proficient when it came to dancing, but they didn't let that stop them as they let the music run through their bodies. There was a fair share of touching and overly sexy dancing of course, especially when they bumped into Anya and Raven on the dance floor dancing together quite inappropriately, and laughing about it the whole time. They also ran into Harper and Luke at some point, though after exchanging a brief hello with them, the new couple had been running off to some back corner of the club to make out.

Clarke was actually considering doing that with Lexa when suddenly Bellamy was next to them. "Hey, C, asshole at five o'clock."

Clarke froze mid dance and glanced in the stated direction, her gaze catching on her ex-boyfriend. He was currently dancing with some blonde that Clarke didn't recognize, not that she would, but just as she looked over, his eyes met hers. "Fuck," she muttered, stepping out of the excessively close proximity with Lexa to grab her hand and pull her off of the dance floor.

"Who? Finn?" Lexa asked.

"Yep," Clarke replied. "I'm really worried I might punch him in the face if he comes over here."

"Well get your fist ready then," Bellamy huffed, and Clarke followed his line of sight to see Finn making his way toward them.

"The idea is that I'd rather not get arrested, Bell."

"Hey, Clarke," Finn said, as soon as he was close enough to be heard. "Haven't seen you around here in a while."

"Haven't been here in a while."

The tension was palpable, and Finn's dull gaze rolled from Clarke, to Bellamy, and finally to Lexa, whose hand was wrapped around Clarke's possessively. The blonde suddenly became aware of something that was practically radiating off of her girlfriend – something like dominance and possession and a low key threat towards Finn.

Clarke loved Lexa so fucking much.

"Ah, how have you been?"

"Much better without receiving texts from you," Clarke answered bluntly. How else was she supposed to keep the asshole out of her life? If she did the whole 'pretend to be friends' thing, how would she keep that to pretend and avoid actually misleading Finn into thinking that they could be friends? "And I'm sure you remember Lexa from the Facebook picture I posted while I was in Europe."

"Hi," Finn said weakly to the woman, whose green eyes were boring into him unpleasantly.

"Hello."

"So, uh." Finn coughed awkwardly. "We should catch up sometime..."

"Actually, Finn, we really shouldn't. I'm kind of like... really done with you. You can't do what you did to me and then just be over it. Especially not after the way you treated me even after we were broken up. It's really just unacceptable, Finn, and I don't want to talk to you anymore. And yeah, that includes if you see me in a club dancing with my girlfriend, alright?" Clarke demanded, narrowing her eyebrows.

"Yeah, sure, got it," Finn muttered, glancing in between Bellamy and Lexa, both of whom were standing very guard like on either side of Clarke. "I'll just... yeah I'm gonna go."

Clarke breathed out a sigh of relief when her ex was leaving the vicinity. "Thank goodness."

"He didn't leave," Bellamy noted. "Do you want to, or wanna just stay and avoid him?"

"Let's stay," Clarke said, feeling like maybe she was trying to prove to herself that Finn couldn't bother her. "I don't want to ruin the night. It's for Raven, anyway."

"I think Raven is having a great time," Lexa commented, suddenly nodding in a specific direction. Clarke turned to look at what she was looking at, and saw Raven pinned against the wall by Anya, their lips joined together heatedly.

"Well, that really was not expected."

"To be honest," Lexa admitted, "I can see it. I mean, they should realistically get along fucking great, considering how strangely similar they are. But maybe the whole badass, dominant attitudes they have could be conflicting."

"I don't know, looks like Rae is definitely enjoying not being the dominant badass one," Clarke said, smirking. "Whatever, let's let them be. Dance with me, babe."

"I'll be with Jasper and Monty if you need me," Bellamy said, receiving a nod from the blonde before he disappeared. Clarke dragged her girlfriend back onto the dance floor, and for the first time in months, she felt like she was entirely whole.


	13. Chapter 13

Clarke woke up on Sunday morning fully clothed, and she immediately frowned upon this realization. She and Lexa, as she recalled, had gotten more than a little drunk the previous night. Her pounding headache was enough to make that completely obvious. Lexa was still passed out next to the blonde, and she was also entirely dressed. Clarke furrowed her eyebrows, confused. She would've thought that their drunk selves would've at least stripped each other naked.

Deciding that it didn't matter, she dragged herself out of her bed and sneaked out of her room to grab some water and some aspirin for herself and her girlfriend. Thinking back to the previous night, most of which she did remember up until when they stumbled back to the apartment, brought a smile to her face. She remembered getting over the ordeal of talking to Finn by dancing with Lexa, and then meeting up with their group again to take shots. She had a slightly blurred memory of taking a shot off of her girlfriend's neck, and her heart sped up.

As she walked into the kitchen, she realized with a raised eyebrow that her couch was empty. She knew for a fact that Anya and Raven had both come home at the same time as she and Lexa had, and so she immediately assumed that the two women were both in Raven's room. She couldn't say that she was really surprised, and she suppressed a smirk.

Once she'd swallowed her painkiller, she brought a glass of water and a pill into her bedroom, where Lexa was starting to stir. "Where'd you go?" her tired voice mumbled from the bed.

"To get this," Clarke replied, sitting carefully back on the bed. "Sit up, babe, I won't let you have a headache for longer than fifteen minutes."

Lexa followed her instructions sleepily, her hand immediately moving to cradle her head as she sat upright. She took the water gratefully, swallowing down the aspirin. "Thanks."

"Mmhmm," Clarke hummed, brushing her fingers through Lexa's hair. "You know, I'm a little surprised that we didn't have sex last night."

Lexa glanced down at her clothed self and then at Clarke's clothed body as well. "I guess that explains my dreams last night."

"What were you dreaming about?" Clarke murmured in a low voice, watching Lexa as the brunette reached over and set her glass on the nightstand.

"I was dreaming about doing certain things to your body, and you doing some other certain things back to mine," Lexa answered, suddenly pushing Clarke to lay down on the bed and sitting across her. "And I have to admit, I'm a little horny this morning."

"When aren't you horny?" Clarke demanded, her breath already uneven. Her shirt was ridden up slightly, and even though Lexa's pants, she could feel her girlfriend's heat against her midsection.

"I don't think I'm ever not horny for you," Lexa murmured, her hands snaking up under Clarke's shirt, pulling it up and then away as Clarke sat up slightly to allow it to slide off of her body. "And right now, I really want to fuck you."

Clarke moaned, feeling heat building between her legs unfairly. "Then why are you just sitting there?"

"I'm gonna take my time," Lexa replied, her fingers tracing the curves of Clarke's body gently. "You're incredible, and I don't know when I'm going to see you again in person after today. I don't want to throw today away."

"Okay," Clarke whispered, her thighs clenching together, "but we have all day. I think you can rush right now and go slow later."

"I don't think so." Lexa's words were final, and Clarke accepted that as the brunette carefully reached under her to unclasp her bra. She removed it gingerly, her gaze locked onto Clarke's. Her chest suddenly cold, Clarke let out a quiet whimper as the appreciation for her body that was visible in the green eyes she loved so much.

Soft lips finally met hers, and Clarke kissed her girlfriend like there was no tomorrow – like she wouldn't see her girlfriend ever again, even though she knew that she would. Lexa stretched out her body, sliding a thigh in between Clarke's and caressing her chest with skilled hands. Clarke's back arched up, pressing her boobs into her Lexa's hands forcefully. Lexa obediently squeezed them, before her fingers took tender nipples in between them, drawing a moan from the blonde.

"Mm, Lexa," Clarke moaned as lips left hers and instead began to trail down her neck, across her collarbone, and then down to her breasts. "Fuck." Her center was aching, hot and wet and needy, and her hips were wiggling uncontrollably. She ground her pelvis down against Lexa's thigh, but just as she did so, the brunette removed her leg from the vicinity. "Lexa, what the fuck?" she groaned.

"I have a different idea," Lexa murmured hotly against her skin, before suddenly dragging her tongue down the center of Clarke's midsection. She stopped to suck the skin by her belly button as she took hold of the pants that Clarke was wearing and adamantly removed them. She followed up this action by lightly guiding Clarke's wet underwear off of her body as well. As soon as Clarke was free from the confines of her clothing, her hips thrust forward, but Lexa was suddenly not where she should've been. Instead, she was laying on her back, her hand grabbing Clarke's and pulling the blonde on top of her.

"Lexa," Clarke groaned, "this isn't fair."

"Trust me," Lexa murmured, and once Clarke was straddling her obediently, Lexa guided the blonde up her body until her almost dripping center was hovering just about Lexa's mouth. Clarke definitely understood what was going on now, and she lowered herself carefully, Lexa's tongue meeting her lower lips perfectly.

Clarke let out a loud moan, her thighs clenching around Lexa's head as the brunette slid two fingers into the area between her legs as well. Clarke ground down on her girlfriend's hand and tongue. "Fuck, Lexa," Clarke moaned loudly, "fuck!"

"Are you close baby?" Lexa murmured against her girlfriend's center, so close to her clit and causing an intense shiver to travel through her body.

"Fuck yes," Clarke moaned. She was almost worried that Lexa was going to try and drag it out even more, but she suddenly felt herself tighten around her girlfriend's fingers, and she let out a cry of pleasure as she came.

As soon as she could again perceive what was happening, Clarke was laying on her back against, her girlfriend on top of her with her soaked fingers in her mouth. The blonde's eyes were dark as she reached up and pulled her girlfriend down for a kiss – one full of teeth and tongue, and she could taste herself in Lexa's mouth. The brunette was suddenly feeling her body gently, and then, to Clarke's surprise, two fingers suddenly met her sensitive clit, and she let out a loud gasp.

"Lexa," she whimpered, her breathing still not even slowed from the first round. As Lexa began to coax her into another orgasm, any other thoughts were torn from Clarke's mind, and only a minute later, she was crying out again with Lexa's name on her lips.

"Mm, did that make up for the lack of sex last night?" Lexa murmured, her lips hovering just above the skin on Clarke's neck.

"Oh yes," the blonde whispered, and that was all she could get out before needing to allow her breathing time to even out. Lexa finally gave her body a break, and soon she was breathing normally. Lexa, however, wouldn't be for very much longer. "Take off your fucking clothes, Lexa."

Lexa sat up, sitting across her girlfriend's body, and slowly removed her shirt, and then her bra. Then she adjusted her position slightly in order to slid her pants off of her body, her underwear along with them at the same time. When she was done, she straddled Clarke again, her wet center meeting Clarke's soft skin. Lexa let out a moan, and suddenly began to grind against Clarke's core with her own.

"Horny much?" Clarke asked, smirking up at her girlfriend as she suppressed her own moan. She knew that if she moaned, Lexa would immediately go to make her come again, before Clarke could do the same for her first.

"Very much."

The blonde, unable to stand the image of Lexa on top of her and grinding down on her desperately, finally pushed the brunette up and onto her back. Lexa let out a breathy puff of air, her darkened green eyes watching Clarke expectantly. "Maybe I should drag this out, and give you a taste of your own medicine."

Lexa let out a tiny whimper. "No," she growled afterward, opposite the first sound, "please just fuck me, Clarke. Please."

"So, so demanding," Clarke murmured, but she obediently crawled down her bed until she was level with Lexa's soaked center. She met it with her mouth abruptly and somewhat roughly, and she reveled in the sound that Lexa released in response. She didn't draw out her girlfriend's orgasm at all, instead pushing her further and further in such a short time until Lexa let out a loud scream and her climax rippled through her body.

"Fuck."

"That is what we just did," Clarke agreed, moving up and pressing her lips softly to Lexa's.

"Don't be such a smart ass," Lexa joked, smirking into the kiss.

"You are so commanding this morning," Clarke murmured.

Lexa chuckled. "You love me when I am."

"I love you all the time," the blonde countered, "but you're definitely not wrong. I think everyone was right – I am such a bottom."

Lexa blushed a little. "You heard all that?"

"Oh yes, I did," Clarke said, grinning as she settled herself in her bed next to her girlfriend. "I'd like to make it quite clear that I can definitely top you, but I do quite like being under you."

"I know you do," Lexa said, smiling and running her unclean fingers through Clarke's hair. "I'm glad you do, because I love being on top of you."

"I love you, babe."

"I love you too."

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows slightly in deep though. "I literally love you so much, Lexa, that I can't put it into words. I'm still not sure that I understand how that happened, but I hate living in a different city than you. I... I want us to talk about it... can we talk about it now?"

"Yes," Lexa agreed, though she sounded slightly deflated, "we can talk about it now."

Clarke opened her mouth to try and kick off the conversation, when suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. "Okay, I've heard no moans in the past two minutes, so I'm assuming you two are done." It was Octavia, and Clarke flushed as she realized that someone other than their best friends had heard them having sex. "So get your asses out here."

Clarke sighed. "I guess we can talk about it later."

* * *

The rest of the day was spent with them all hanging around the apartment, and once the sun started to set, Lexa and Anya had to go. It was heartbreaking, having to watch Lexa leave again. Clarke held her in a sot hug for at least two minutes, before giving her a deep, sad kiss and then letting her go. It was harder every time, she realized, which she supposed made sense. It especially hurt that they hadn't been able to have the conversation that Clarke desperately needed them to have. She knew that they could have it over the phone, but the idea of talking about the whole situation in person was way more appealing.

Aware that she could've addressed it earlier in the weekend, Clarke found herself sulking for the rest of the evening after her girlfriend left for New York. It was only when Raven called her out on it that she finally tried to relax. Lexa shot her a text message when she was home, and then the blonde forced herself to go to sleep. She would think about the needed conversation in the morning.

When morning came, though, Lexa had texted that she would be working until halfway through Clarke's shift that night, and they would have to talk at midnight or so. Clarke knew that the extremely important topic of living locations and whatnot shouldn't be had when they were both exhausted, so she accepted the fact that she wouldn't get to talk about it until the weekend.

A little before lunch time, her phone started ringing with a phone call from Wick.

"Hey, Wick, what's up?" she asked her boss, recalling that he'd called her earlier in the weekend.

"You free for lunch in an hour? I have something I kind of want to talk to you about."

Clarke raised an eyebrow. "Sure, where we meeting? And should I be worried?"

"Don't be worried," Wick insisted, and Clarke could hear the smile in his voice. "How about the Starbucks down the street from the bar?"

"Sure," Clarke agreed, "see you then."

She ended the call, wondering what Wick could possibly want to talk to her about. She thought that it might be something like a raise, and her mood greatly perked up at that idea.

She got to the Starbucks early due to her excitement, and as she sat and waited for her boss, she got a text from Raven, who was currently at her first day at her new job.

 **From Rae Bae – Lunch break! This place is so great. I don't miss the firm at all. Hope you're actually eating something for lunch.**

 **To Rae Bae – I'm glad the new job is going well so far! :D I'm at Starbucks – meeting with Wick a few minutes. He's got something to talk to me about apparently. He said not to be worried.**

 **From Rae Bae – You know you're his most favorite employee ever, so I wouldn't stress about whatever it is. I'll stop by the bar tonight, but I have a feeling that after this training day I'm going to need to crash early tonight.**

 **To Rae Bae – Alright, see you later, Rae!**

"Hey, Clarke!" Wick said brightly, sitting across from the blonde at the table she was at. "How was your weekend? You said your girlfriend came into town, right?"

"Yeah," Clarke replied. "It's been a couple of weeks since I got to see her, and that's why I took off Saturday."

"Of course, I understand," Wick said, nodding. "This isn't about this weekend, actually."

"Oh?"

"So, as you probably know, Drekka Bar was the first place I ever opened after I graduated," Wick started, and Clarke nodded that she did indeed know that. Wick actually had opened a second bar since then, but he has sold it due to his attachment to his first bar, Drekka, where Clarke had started working a year after it's opening. "Well, you probably didn't know that when I was in college, I studied business with the intention of eventually opening a restaurant chain that I wanted to go from Washington DC, to to New York City, to Boston."

"Oh really? No, I never knew that," Clarke admitted, her mind trying to figure out how this involved her.

"Yes, well, it's true. And to be honest, when I opened Drekka, that dream kind of faded a little bit. The bar became like my baby, I guess," he explained. "Well, though I probably haven't said it, you've probably guessed that I kind of have a lot of money from family and whatnot. The fact is, even though I only have Drekka open right now, I could afford a lot more places. I just don't want to own things just to own them. And recently, I've kind of started rebuilding the idea of opening a restaurant chain."

"That's awesome," Clarke said, "but uh, I'm sorry, I just don't really see what this has to do with me?"

"Well, I want to devote all of my attention to the restaurant when I open it. I've actually already started assembling the team that I need to get the whole thing up and running. However, this kind of leaves the bar in a weird place."

Clarke's stomach dropped. "You're not closing it, are you?"

"Oh, no!" Wick exclaimed, shaking his head. "No way, I would never close it. It's way too successful for that. No, I was thinking more along the lines of selling it."

That didn't make Clarke feel much better either. "Oh..." She couldn't imagine a boss other than Wick, if she was being honest. She was sure that whoever it was wouldn't appreciate her being an essential part of the success of the business, and that they would be far less lenient about vacation days and whatnot. She was prepared to start listing her qualms off to Wick, in the hopes that he would change his mind, but he was talking again.

"Now, Clarke," he started, "you' have become as much a part of Drekka as I am. Maybe even more. I mean, most all of the regulars know you as the face of the bar more than they do me. And I would never want to do anything that could possibly end with you parting with your job. Not only because of the sake of the bar, but for your sake too. I know we're not necessarily best friends, but we're pals and you did kind of learn most of your amazing bar tending skills from me."

Clarke smiled softly. "You're not wrong. So... you're not going to sell it?"

"Actually, I think selling it is the perfect idea," Wick admitted, confusing Clarke to the extreme. "It's about the who I'll sell it to."

"And... who will you sell it to?"

Wick grinned. "Well, I was hoping you."

Clarke's jaw dropped involuntarily. "Wait, what? I can't buy the bar, Wick, I do not have that kind of money."

"Which is why," Wick started, "I'm going to drop the price I should be selling it for. I really want Drekka to stay around, Clarke, and you're the only person I really trust to do that. And like I said, I don't have a money issue. Me selling you the bar for a cheap price doesn't affect me enough for it to matter. I want you to have the bar, Clarke."

Blue eyes were blown incredibly wide, and Clarke was speechless.

"I'm thinking that by the end of the year, I'll have my restaurant up and coming, and so we can have the contract drawn up by then and you'll be the owner of your very own Drekka Bar by January. How's that sound? We can talk up the price details later, and they will of course be affordable, and I also wouldn't mind if you wanted to pay in multiple payments throughout the next year," Wick explained.

Clarke stuttered over nothing for a moment, and then she found herself nodding. "Of course, that's... I'm speechless, Wick, thank you so much."

"Of course," Wick said, grinning again. "I figure that you still want to bar tend, so this way you'll be able to do so if you want, and you'll be able to hire the rest of your staff and whatnot. And one day, if you'd like to stop the bar tending, you can sit back and take it easy. I just know how much you care about the bar, as much as I do, and I don't want to entrust it with anyone else."

Clarke was choked up now, and she swallowed thickly. "Seriously, thank you so much Wick. I really appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it," he insisted, standing up. "Well, I've got to see someone to start getting the contract all written up. The first draft anyway. I'll run it by you in a couple of weeks and we can make any modifications between now and the end of the year. We've only got a few months left before then anyway. You working tonight?"

"Yep," Clarke answered, still completely unsure of what she should be saying.

"Great, well I won't be by the bar tonight, but I'll see you tomorrow. Take care."

"You too," Clarke returned, and then her boss was gone.

* * *

"Hey hey hey!" Raven exclaimed, bursting into the bar. "My first day on the job was fucking great!"

"Good, I'm glad," Clarke said, grinning. She was super excited to tell her best friend about her conversation with Wick, and the brunette seemed to notice this.

"What's got you beaming like that? Good meeting with the boss?"

"You're not gonna fucking believe it, Rae," Clarke said, as Raven sat down at the bar and raised an eyebrow. "Wick is going to sell me this place."

Raven's jaw dropped. "Holy fuck, are you for real? What the fuck is he gonna do?"

"He's opening a restaurant," Clarke admitted. "I'm like... really shocked still. But he said that by the end of the year he's gonna have his restaurant kicking off and he wants to sell me this place for literally a steal."

"That's incredible!" Raven exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you, C! You'll literally be able to make your own hours and... that's... it's awesome. Have you told Lexa?"

Clarke hesitated, and then shook her head. "No, she's been at work and she doesn't get off until like... half an hour from now."

"What's that look for?"

Clarke bit down on her bottom lip. "I'm... I mean, I assume that she's going to be happy for me, but doesn't this kind of glue me here? What if she's wanted me to move to New York and now she realizes that I'm stuck here?"

"Owning the bar doesn't have to mean that you're stuck here," Raven offered. "I mean, you could hire your own bartenders and then fly off to live in New York if you wanted to."

"I don't want to stop bar tending."

"Then you were already stuck here anyway, babe," Raven insisted, giving her best friend a small smile.

"So what are Lexa and I going to do? I don't want to ask her to leave New York."

"Haven't you guys talked about this yet?"

Clarke huffed. "We were about to yesterday, but we were rudely interrupted by O."

"Tonight?"

"I have a feeling that it's going to be a long conversation. I don't want to do it at midnight."

Raven sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, Clarke. Are you at least going to tell Lexa about the offer?"

"Yeah, probably tonight or tomorrow. But anyway, let's talk about something else," Clarke decided, letting out a quiet puff of air. "You and Anya, maybe? You didn't say anything about it yesterday. Did you guys sleep together or not?"

Raven flushed. "Maybe."

"And?"

"And nothing. She's hot, and we have serious sexual chemistry, so we had sex. It was fine."

Clarke raised an eyebrow. "Rae, you rarely wake up past ten even after being plastered. So I know that you were awake before you two crawled out of that room yesterday morning. And since I didn't hear you screaming or moaning, I assume that you two had to have been talking."

"So? People are allowed to talk during the morning after."

"Yeah, but not while you're both naked in bed after having just sex," Clarke teased, grinning knowingly at her best friend.

"Alright, fine... she's cool."

"Are you and I both going to be stuck in long distance relationships now?"

Raven shrugged. "Who knows? I'm not sure I would ever want to do that to myself now that I know what it's like from your experiences."

"It's not all bad, though," Clarke insisted. "And Lexa and I can totally see you and Anya as a couple."

"Mm well. She gave me her number, so I guess we'll see what happens. In the meantime, though, I should probably head home and sleep. It was a long day. Congrats on the bar thing," Raven said, "and please don't forget to tell Lexa and to talk to her about living situations and whatnot."

"I won't," Clarke insisted. "See you later."

As Raven left, Clarke leaned against the counter and sighed. The night was slow, since it was only Monday, which meant that Clarke was going to be left to her thoughts for the new few hours. Thoughts that she was sure would leave her feeling lost and mopey.

She just wanted to talk to Lexa, but she was scared of the outcome, even though she knew that she really shouldn't be.

Inhaling deeply, she moved across the bar to refill someone's drink. The luring thoughts could be suppressed for a few moments longer.


	14. Chapter 14

Clarke was tossing and turning all night. She couldn't help it. After getting off of the phone with Lexa at half past midnight, she'd made it her mission to sleep and prepare herself for talking to her girlfriend about her conversation with Wick. She hadn't brought it up during their short phone call, because she knew that it was going to undoubtedly bring up the conversation that both of them knew they needed to have.

However, sleep never came to her. She was up for almost the whole night, rolling over and adjusting her pillow and squeezing her eyes shut. She knew that it shouldn't be bothering her so much, but it got to the point that she grabbed her phone and texted her girlfriend.

 **To Sexy Evil GF – Call me when you wake up if you have time please 3**

That was sent at three in the morning, and she thought that maybe having done something to further the task of bringing up the conversation to her girlfriend would allow her to sleep. No such luck, however, because she hadn't slept a wink in the three hours that it took for Lexa to answer her. She assumed, since she responded at six in the morning, that Lexa had work early, but the reply said otherwise.

 **From Sexy Evil GF – You still awake? Something wrong? I got called out of work today so I was gonna get up early and go to the gym, and I just got up.**

Clarke took in a shaky breath and sat up.

 **To Sexy Evil GF – I'm still awake.**

The phone call came through almost immediately after she sent the text message. "Why the fuck are you awake, Clarke?" Lexa demanded, though her voice was unbelievably soft and delicate. It was also sleepy sounding and kind of raspy, and it relaxed Clarke immensely.

"I couldn't sleep."

"All night? Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't want to wake you up," Clarke murmured, pulling her legs up to her chest and hugging her chest.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Lexa asked softly, not pressing the issue of Clarke not reaching out to her.

Clarke let out a long breath. "I have to tell you something really exciting."

"Okay," Lexa said slowly. "You don't sound particularly excited to tell me." Clarke inhaled deeply, trying to decide how to justify the lack of excitement in her voice.

Rather than do that, however, she decided instead to simply tell Lexa the facts. "Wick, my boss, offered to sell me the bar. He's going to sell it to me for basically a steal, and I should be the owner of it by the end of the year, so in a few months."

"Clarke, that's amazing," Lexa said, without any hesitation. "You love that place – that's absolutely incredible. I mean, I'm assuming you're still going to want to bar tend, but owning a place like that basically secures you for as long as it keeps being successful."

"Yeah," the blonde agreed.

There was silence for a moment. "Babe, what's wrong? Why were you so nervous about telling me about that that you couldn't sleep?"

Clarke had tears in her eyes, and she wasn't sure whether she was weak for them or not. She shouldn't be as terrified about this topic as she was, but she absolutely couldn't help it. She swallowed thickly, preparing her voice for speaking again. "Um. I was worried that you would be upset. Because... owning this place kind of ties me here."

Lexa's exhale was quick and quiet and Clarke barely heard it. She couldn't tell what emotion the breath held. "Clarke, you were tied down to DC when I met you."

"That's not true," Clarke whispered.

"Yes, it is," Lexa insisted. "You grew up there. Your mom lives there. Your best friend who is basically your sister lives there. All of your other friends that you've known since starting college live there. Your job is there – and that job means so much to you. I was never going to ask you to leave all of that for me, Clarke. You can't have thought that I would be upset that something so amazing is happening for you."

"I know it's stupid," Clarke murmured, squeezing her eyes shut, "I'm just scared, Lexa. Because I do not want to lose you. You are so important to me, but so is everything else here and I..." She took in a deep breaths. "When I met you, I said something about not feeling attached to DC. Like it must not be the place I'm destined to end up, because I didn't feel like I could be there forever and ever. And I thought that was true at the time, because of my dad's death anniversary and Finn breaking up with me... but I do feel attached to this place, and that's not fair to you, because yougrew up in New York, and you love New York."

"It's not stupid," Lexa immediately chided once Clarke was done talking, "nothing that you feel or **t** think is stupid. And you won't lose me just because you live in a different city than I do, Clarke. And about what you said when we were in Europe... I knew that you were wrong about how you felt about DC when you woke up at a very ungodly hour to coax your drunk best friend into going to sleep."

Clarke let out a shaky breath. "But I –"

"But nothing, Clarke," Lexa interrupted, though her tone was careful and gentle. "I would never ask you to leave DC or anything in it for me. Okay?"

"I don't want to ask you to leave New York," Clarke croaked out, desperately trying not to break out into sobs like she felt like she might. "You talk about New York as if it's Paris or London or something."

"You know what's great about Paris and London?" Lexa asked, and Clarke shook her head, before remembering that Lexa couldn't see her.

"What?"

"I'll never get tired of them," Lexa reiterated something that Clarke was sure she'd been told during their time in Europe. "When I go back, I'll get to relive where I've been, and explore new places, and I'll make new memories as well as remember old ones. You know what I mean?"

"Yes."

"And then there's New York," Lexa continued, and Clarke could practically see the smile on her face. "I feel the same way about New York, you're right. The difference is, I see New York City everyday. I walk down the same streets, and go to the same places. And though I could spend a lot of time exploring new places and going to my favorite places, I don't always have time for that. Because I have work, and I go out with friends, and I probably spend a little too much time sleeping."

"You always do," Clarke murmured, smiling a little.

"I don't need to be in New York everyday to think that it's amazing," Lexa said quietly. "Just like I don't have to be in Paris or London everyday. New York isn't far from DC, you know? It's a lot closer than Europe is."

Clarke chuckled. "Yes, I know this."

"Do you know what I love more than New York?"

Clarke's heart rate picked up as she anticipated the answer. "What?"

"You," Lexa stated firmly. "And that fact comes with all of the implications that you can think of. And I know you don't want to pull me away from where I am now, but the truth is, I don't need to stay here to be happy. And if you came to NYC, I'm almost sure that you would resent me for it later."

"I wouldn't," Clarke denied.

"Well, we won't ever know," Lexa stated, "because I don't want you to move to New York and leave everything you have in DC."

Clarke felt tears rising to her eyes again, mostly because thoughts and emotions were conflicting angrily within her head, and she didn't know what to say or do. "But... I don't have you in DC. You're in New York."

"Yes, I am," Lexa agreed, "but I don't have to be in New York forever, Clarke. I don't want to be in New York forever if it means I'll have to be away from you." Tears finally escaped Clarke's blue eyes and she squeezed her eyes shut, hiccuping slightly as she wiped at her face aggressively. "Baby, are you crying?"

"No," Clarke denied, though it was obvious by the shakiness in her voice that she was.

"Why are you crying?"

"I really don't know," the blonde mumbled, pulling her blanket up around her body. "I just... I really love you, Lexa."

"I love you too," Lexa said softly. "And I think that you need sleep. Don't you have to work tonight?"

"Yes," Clarke answered dejectedly.

"Well... I'm off all day, so how about you go to sleep, and I'll text Raven not to wake you up. And then I'll make sure you're up in time to eat before going to work," Lexa suggested softly, and Clarke found herself nodding and sniffling, before remembering once again that Lexa couldn't see her.

"Okay."

"I love you."

"Love you too." The call ended, and Clarke hiccuped a sob again before leaning over to plug her phone in. Burying herself into her blankets, she let herself realize the implications that came from the conversation she'd just had with Lexa. As they all occurred to her, she felt herself relaxing significantly, and she finally fell asleep.

* * *

 **To Raven – Hey, this is Lexa. (Anya gave me your number when we were coming back from DC). Just wanted to let you know that Clarke just went to sleep, so please try not to wake her up.**

Lexa sent that directly after ending the call with her girlfriend, and then she'd gotten up and dressed in clothes that were suitable for exercise. Rather than going to the gym, she decided for a jog instead, and set out.

She got a reply from Raven just as she was approaching her apartment building a couple hours later, having stopped for lunch and a coffee while out on her run.

 **From Raven – Why'd she go to sleep at six in the morning?**

 **From Raven – Actually, hold on.**

Before Lexa could question the message, her phone started ringing with a call from her girlfriend's best friend. Lexa answered it immediately. "Hey," she said, before quickly gulping down the last of her coffee.

"Hey," Raven replied, "why did Clarke not sleep until this morning?"

"Apparently she couldn't sleep, because she was worried about talking to me about Wick offering to sell her the bar," Lexa explained. "She texted me at three in the morning asking me to call her when I woke up, and was still wide awake when I woke up."

"Oh." Raven let out a sigh. "Well, did she finally talk to you?"

"Yeah..." Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. "Has she known about the offer for long?"

"Oh, no," Raven said quickly, "no, she just talked to him yesterday. But she's been wanting to talk to you about your whole living situation for quite a while. I thought she would've done it over the weekend."

"We almost did," Lexa said, sighing, "but yeah, we finally talked about it all."

"So what consensus did you reach?"

Lexa laughed lightly. "I'm not sure we did reach one, I mean, not officially. She's worried about pulling me away from New York, and she was worried that I would be upset by her being stuck to DC. But I would never pull her away from that place – she has you and all of her friends and her mom and her job. So I told her that, and I mean, I am not opposed to moving to Washington DC for Clarke. It's not a bad place to live by any means."

"Well... good," Raven said, letting out a relieved breath. "I'm glad you guys talked it out. It was starting to stress me out, not being able to calm her down about it all. Well, I've gotta go, I'm about to head out for work. Thanks for texting me about it."

"No problem," Lexa said, though she smiled a little since she'd really only texted Raven to keep Clarke from being woken up, not to explain the whole situation. The phone call ended, and Lexa finally made it to her apartment, unlocking the door and slipping inside. She immediately dumped her empty coffee cup into the trash. She glanced into her living room and physically jumped as she saw Anya sprawled across her couch. "Anya, what the fuck?"

"Hey," her best friend chirped. "How was your morning?"

"Alright..." Lexa looked curiously at her friend. "Yours?"

"Don't you have work?"

"Got called out," Lexa answered, walking into the living area and leaning against the wall. "I was out on a run. Why? Were you going to chill in my apartment all day while I was gone? Please don't tell me that you're already out of money and lost yours."

"You act like I'm completely unemployed," Anya said with a scoff, "when you obviously know that I'm working part time at the museum right now."

"It hardly counts, considering what job you should be working. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I was gonna chill here until you came around," she admitted.

"Why?" Lexa furrowed her eyebrows.

Her best friend took in shaky breath. "I need to talk to you."

* * *

"What's up?" Lexa asked, after making her best friend some tea. Since she'd just had coffee, Lexa didn't make any for herself. She wondered if she might need wine, though, because Anya rarely got so serious about topics of discussion unless they were actually of great importance. She decided against alcohol so early on in the day, though, and instead seated herself next to her best friend. Tucking her feet under herself, she waited patiently for Anya to begin talking.

"So, last week, I applied for a bunch of jobs," Anya began, and Lexa nodded. She was aware of this – she'd actually helped find a lot of them. "I got a call yesterday about one, but it was one of the ones that is very low down on my list. Like, last case scenario type job. But this morning, about forty minutes ago, I got another call from one of the better ones. Actually, it might be one of the best of the ones I applied for, and I got it."

Lexa's eyes widened. "That's amazing, Anya! Which company was it?"

Anya coughed awkwardly, looking down at her lap. "It's uh, the oil and gas company that we saw on the list. The one that I said was a long shot, but I'd try for it."

Lexa froze for a moment, wondering why her friend seemed so unexcited. This seemed to be the trend of the morning, actually, people telling her exciting news and being very unexcited about it. But then it hit her – the oil and gas company that Anya had flashed the web page of to her was not in New York, understandably. In fact, it was actually in Texas, hours and hours southwest of New York City. "Oh. That's still incredible."

"It's so far away," Anya said quietly. "I've never thought about moving out of New York. They said in the call that they understood moving time and expenses, so they said they'd hold the job for a month or so for me. They actually want me there, but I told them I would have to think about it. The woman on the phone understood, because of the moving situation, but... do I do it?"

Lexa exhaled softly. "Anya, you are probably one of the most successful people that I know when it comes to working your ass off to build your way up in a career. And I want you to take every opportunity you have to be amazing and keep building yourself up. But this is your decision. You know that I'll support you no matter what."

"Even if I move halfway across the country?" Anya muttered, sighing and sinking further into Lexa's couch.

"Yes," Lexa confirmed firmly. "Of course."

There was silence in between them for a moment, and then a soft exhale. "I want to do it. Even if it means that I have to go live around a bunch of hill billies and conservative assholes. The place is in Austin, though, so I guess I'll be okay."

"I'm pretty sure not everyone in Texas is an asshole," Lexa said lightly, chuckling. "And I think you'll own life no matter where you are and who you have to deal with."

Anya smiled, sighing again. "I guess I better start trying to get out of my apartment lease and trying to find a place in Austin. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?"

Lexa bit down on her lower lip, glancing down at her phone, which was sitting in her lap.

"What?"

Lexa shook her head. "Nothing, it can wait. Right now, we need to figure out how we are going to celebrate your new job."

* * *

"Oh, did you hear?" Clarke asked her best friend as she wiped down the bar counter. It was just about time for her shift to end – she had an early ending one today, which was nice considering how little she'd slept. But she was incredibly grateful to her girlfriend for making sure that she did indeed wake up on time.

"About what?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow as she leaning against the other side of the bar. She'd just arrived at the bar and was waiting to take the blonde home, since Clarke had opted for a cab due to her lack of sleep.

"Anya got a new job – in Texas," Clarke replied, carefully observing her friend's reaction.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "And I'm supposed to care because...?"

"Because you like her."

"No, I don't. We just had sex. It wasn't a big deal," Raven insisted, sniffing and looking away from the blonde casually.

"So you didn't cuddle after you had sex?"

Raven scoffed. "That doesn't say anything."

"Sure it does," Clarke said, smiling a little as she pushed the issue. "You totally like her. Haven't you been texting her since Sunday?"

"So?"

"So... you like her."

"Not everyone falls instantly into a deep and passionate love like you, C," Raven said, crossing her arms. "Are you done yet?"

"Yes," Clarke replied, smiling softly as she made sure that she had her phone and that the guy who had just come in was all good. Then she followed Raven out of the building. They were quiet as they started for Raven's car, but then the brunette let out a sigh.

"Okay, I kinda like Anya... a little. But I only just met her, and yeah we've been talking. But she hadn't mentioned the Texas job thing."

"She talked to Lexa about it today."

"Well that sucks ass," Raven muttered. "She was really good in bed."

"I'm sure," Clarke responded dryly, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure you'll find someone else who can match your bitch level and be good in bed."

"I'm not a bitch, shut up." Raven rolled her eyes and stopped by her car, walking around to the driver's side as Clarke opened up the passenger door. "Anyway, I'm sure I'll be fine. Anya and I can just hook up every time she comes back up to the north east – if she wants to of course. And her best friend lives four hours from here, it's not like she won't ever come back. Plus – it's not like we're going to stop talking just because she's living somewhere else. It's not like she lives in DC right now anyway."

"Sounds a lot like a long distance relationship," Clarke commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Minus all the lovey-dovey shit."

"Sure."

Raven pulled out of the parking spot she was in and started their drive home. "So. You talked to your girlfriend this morning. About that shit that's been bothering you."

Clarke gave her best friend a look. "Yes."

"I heard it went well."

"Yeah," she agreed, letting out a light sigh. "I mean, we didn't establish when we're getting past this long distance stuff, but we basically decided that she'll be the one to come here. Which on one hand makes me feel bad, but on the other, it's a relief. And she made it really clear that it's not going to bother her to move here. And while I don't believe that's entirely true – I'm sure she'll at least miss New York – I believe her. She wouldn't tell me that if it wasn't true."

"Lexa has a good track record so far," Raven justified, nodding. "She seemed legit when she was talking to me."

"Didn't she just call you to tell you not to wake me up?"

"She texted me, yeah, but I called her and demanded that she tell me why you were going to bed at six in the morning," Raven answered, raising her eyebrows at her friend, "and then from there I made her give me the juicy details. Well... I guess just the surface ones."

Clarke just shrugged. "Yeah, I didn't sleep at all last night. I was too stressed out and I started crying when I was on the phone with Lexa. Leave it to me to be the over emotional one who's incredibly worried about something wrong."

"To be honest," Raven started, " I think you're totally justified in feeling that way. I mean, you were with Finn for two years and you lived with him. There was no long distance and no question of when you would next see each other. And then Finn just went and turned away, broke up with you and kicked you out of the apartment that was originally yours. And after the weeks you spent literally wallowing, you didn't take any time to repair yourself over it. You trust Lexa with your heart, even over miles and miles, and that's incredible, but it's perfectly understandable that you would still be protective over your emotions. I don't even think that you considered the fact that you might be still shaken by that."

"You're probably right," Clarke agreed with a sigh. "What would I do without you?"

"I guess we won't ever know," Raven said, giving her a wide smile. "Feel like having a movie night?"

"It's Tuesday."

"So? It's only ten."

Clarke smiled. "Alright, sure. As long as I get to choose the movie."

"Deal!"

* * *

"So how's living with Rae?" Octavia asked, sipping her coffee and looking across the table at Clarke. It was Friday morning, and while Raven was at work and Clarke was not yet at work, Octavia had invited the blonde for coffee to catch up. Sure, they hung out all the time with their friends, but that wasn't ever true catching up time, and the brunette had her morning off.

"Almost like how I remember it being," Clarke replied, smirking, "except she actually wakes up before me by some miracle, and she's actually generally more respectful of our space than during college."

"I cannot imagine living with her during college," Octavia muttered. She shook her head as if trying to erase the thought from her head. "So, you doing alright then?"

"Yeah, I'm great." Clarke smiled.

"Things with Lexa area all good?"

Clarke found herself nodding and smiling, knowing for the first time in a while that she and Lexa were definitely going to be okay. At least, she'd received the best assurance she possibly could've at this point in time, and that was enough for her right now. "Yeah, they're great."

"Even after talking about the job thing? Which, by the way, congrats. I barely got to talk to you this week and I didn't get to give you a real congratulations after you sent that text to tell us all," Octavia said, smiling widely.

"Thank you, and yeah, especially after talking about it."

"I'm glad."

Clarke let out a quiet breath. "Yeah, but it doesn't change how much I miss her. I'm just happy that she understands that I can't really leave here. I wish I could... speed up time, I guess, to the point where we get to be together, in the same place, full time."

"Yeah, I personally can't imagine being in long distance," Octavia admitted, sighing. "If I had to spend more than a week out of the state without Lincoln... I just really can't imagine it."

Clarke took a sip from her coffee as she nodded. "Yeah, it's hard."

"It'll work out," Octavia stated, smiling encouragingly. "I know that I... wasn't the most supportive person in the world a few weeks ago. I guess that was because I kind of expected that you guys would've been seeing each other more... it didn't feel so real to think about you guys being stuck in long distance until it had been a while. I just want you to be happy, Clarke, and you totally deserve to be."

"Thank you," Clarke said softly, smiling. "So, how are things with you and Lincoln anyway? Everything you ever dreamed it would be? Since I know you did, for fucking years."

"Shut up." Octavia laughed and bit her lower lip, before diving into her latest reason to gush over how amazing Lincoln was.

* * *

"It's Friday night, and you need to let loose. I know you're stressed about everything – Clarke being stuck to DC, me starting to pack all my shit to move..." Anya looked pointedly at Lexa, who was sprawled across her couch in pajamas. "So you need to change, get your ass up, and we're going out."

"Anya, the number of times that I've gone out in the past month probably surpass the number of times I went out during all of 2015," Lexa huffed, though she found herself standing anyway and making her way toward her bedroom. Anya followed her, a bounce now in her step.

"I guess that means that 2016 is working out much better for you then," Anya reasoned, and Lexa knew that her best friend was grinning through the words. "Not to mention the fact that you met a hot girl and whatnot."

"Oh yes, and I'm most happy about the fact that she's hot," Lexa rolled her eyes, smirking a little as she opened her closet. Anya was quiet for a second, and the brunette looked over her shoulder at her friend. "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm just thinking about this end of this year. I mean, our lives are going to be so different by then," Anya murmured, flopping onto Lexa's bed. "We usually spend Christmas together too. Will we be able to this year?"

"Maybe we can meet up in DC," Lexa said softly, shrugging and looking back to her closet.

Anya chuckled. "Sounds like a plan, Miss Whipped."

"I'm not whipped."

"Mmhmm."

"Shut up."


	15. Chapter 15

Clarke had her feet tucked under her as she flipped through different TV channels. It was Saturday, but she wasn't working until five and Raven had disappeared to go run some mysterious errand. Clarke had been trying to find something to watch, but after suffering through two painful hours of some random documentary on the History channel, she was now nearly bored to death.

Just as she was about to give up and take a nap, the door to the apartment opened and Raven came in, speaking into her phone. "Yeah, I'll do it on Monday. Yep. No don't worry about it. I've gotta go, yeah you too. Bye."

"Who was that?" Clarke asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Work," Raven answered dismissively.

Clarke blinked. "They're calling you on weekends now too?"

"No, it wasn't a big deal. Don't worry about," Raven insisted. Clarke decided not to question it and instead folded her arms over each other on the back of the couch and propped her chin on them as her best friend walked into the kitchen. "Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No. I've been trying to find something to watch on TV, because you left me all morning for whatever errand you had."

"I'm sorry," Raven said, shrugging. "Well, you wanna go out then and get something? I don't think we have any good food here."

"No, really?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Alright, Miss Sarcasm. Go get your ass in some real clothes and let's go get food."

"These clothes are real."

"Yeah, real ugly," Raven called as Clarke disappeared into her room.

"Give me a break, Rae, I don't change into nice clothes just to sit around all day," Clarke exclaimed, slightly exasperated but not able to be fully. She was used to Raven's antics after all of these years anyway.

Half an hour later found them in a cafe, food in front of them. "So, I talked to Anya today," Raven said lightly, avoiding Clarke's curious gaze.

"Okay?"

"She started packing for Texas yesterday. Apparently Lexa is taking it kind of hard."

"Yeah, we talked yesterday," Clarke replied, "and she's definitely bummed out about the whole situation. Which I don't really blame her for, I mean, if you were moving to Texas, I'd be pretty goddamn upset."

"Oh yeah, no definitely," Raven agreed, nodding profusely. "I don't blame her in the slightest. It just makes me feel like I hardly have the right to be even a little upset about it."

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows. "Huh?"

"I've known her for literally a week, C," Raven said, crossing her arms for a moment before undoing them in order to take another bite of her food. "And sure, we clicked and then made out and then slept together and then cuddled and now we've been texting all week... but it's not the same. And I feel like it's unfair for me to miss her."

"That's not unfair," Clarke insisted, shaking her head. "I mean, obviously you won't and probably can't miss her on the same level that Lexa is going to miss her, because they've known each other for a long time. But, for you... with Anya came an opportunity to be with someone – something that you haven't gotten very often. And it's with someone who you click with and who you've already felt the spark thing with. It's perfectly fair for you to miss her and be upset that she's getting even further away."

Raven took another bite of her sandwich and then sighed. "Ugh, when did we become so boring, Clarke?"

"What do you mean boring?"

"All we ever talk about it our super out-of-whack love lives –"

"Me and Lexa are not out-of-whack."

" – and our jobs," Raven finished, suddenly sitting up straighter. "I have an idea. Let's take a day off tomorrow."

"Neither of us have work tomorrow, Rae."

"Not from work," the brunette corrected, shaking her head, "from life. Let's go to Virginia Beach."

Clarke raised both of her eyebrows. "What? That seems like a long way to drive for a day – especially when it's almost the same distance to drive up to New York."

"Okay, but the point is to get away from things that cause us stress."

"Lexa doesn't cause me stress."

Raven huffed. "Alright fine, Lexa doesn't stress you out. But you know what does? Thinking about your long distance all the fucking time. And I'm not trying to complain, because I really don't mind talking about it every now and then, but that's on a fucking repeat in your head, babe, whether we're talking about it or not. You need to take a day with me – we need to get away from girls and work and friends and family and everything. We can leave early tomorrow morning and just get to the beach and tan and laze and swim. Then we can drive back up in the afternoon. Come on, C!"

Clarke narrowed her eyes a little bit, and then she exhaled and nodded. "Alright, let's do it."

"Yes! I knew that you had an impulsive bone in there somewhere," Raven said, a grin across her face.

"Are you kidding me, Raven? I up and went to Europe after thinking about it for a handful of hours, and then spent three weeks there with someone I'd just met. And you were doubting whether I could be impulsive?"

"Chill out, C, let's go home so you can get your beach gear ready. That way, you can go straight to sleep after you get off tonight," Raven explained, a wide smile still spread across her face.

* * *

"Virginia Beach, huh?" Clarke heard her girlfriend's voice in the phone. The blonde was about fifteen minutes from needing to leave for work, and since she knew that she would need as much sleep as possible for the following day, she had decided to call Lexa before work instead of after. "That's kind of far, right?"

Clarke hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah, I mean... like three hours or so. But I think Raven's reasoning is all valid. We're both really stressed out about a lot of stuff, work and shit. A day at the beach will be nice."

"Well, I'm glad you're going to get to relax some," Lexa admitted. "Anya's kind of been dragging me out a lot lately, and I too could use a day at the beach."

"Mm, too bad it's a seven hour drive for you," Clarke said softly.

"Yeah, wouldn't be able to stay long if I did make the drive," the brunette agreed with a chuckle. "You and Raven both deserve the break, honestly. With all the stuff going on... for everyone."

"Thanks." The blonde sighed contently. "I miss you, you know?"

"I miss you too, babe," Lexa returned. "I hope we can see each other again soon around work and everything. There's just so much going on, with me trying to help Anya pack up her place, and the fact that I'm still working full time. But I think tomorrow after I help Anya for the day, I'm going to go up north a little and find a cute place to take some pictures."

"Ooh, cool," Clarke said, grinning. "I wish you had more time to take pictures. You get so happy when you're in the photographer zone."

"Mm, you know what else I get happy doing?" Lexa murmured, and Clarke couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth.

"Babe, I don't have time to help you get your unbelievably horny self off," Clarke insisted. "We were literally having the most innocent conversation – how do you turn it into that?"

"I can't help it," Lexa groaned. "Whatever, I guess I'll just take care of it all by myself once you're at work. Actually, I can make you a part of the fun if you want."

Clarke physically squeezed her thighs together at the tone of Lexa's voice. "Babe, I can't sext at work."

"You don't have to do anything," Lexa insisted, "but since you don't have time to help me, you at least deserve to get a peek at what's going to go down, right?"

"Lexa! Don't send me inappropriate pictures while I'm at work!"

"Oh – I think you need to leave for work!"

"Lexa!"

"Yep, you definitely have to go, love you bye!" The phone call ended and Clarke groaned, getting off of her bed and pocketing her phone while grumbling under her breath.

Sure enough, five minutes into her shift, her phone began to vibrate with new pictures messages of Lexa. And though Clarke knew that she should just look later, she couldn't help herself and... well, she was not going to go straight to sleep when she got home that night.

* * *

"I feel like I'm breaking some sort of rule," Clarke muttered. She and Raven were halfway to Virginia Beach, just now leaving the gas station they'd stopped at to buy gummy worms and to switch drivers. Clarke had driven the first half specifically so that she could eat her snack easier in the second stretch.

"What, why? Eating gummy bears like a kid whenever you don't even work out?"

"Shut up, they're gummy worms, and just because I don't work out doesn't mean that I need to lose weight," the blonde muttered, narrowing her eyes at her best friend. "And that's not what I meant. I meant up and leaving on a whim."

"What do you mean? You should be completely comfortable with that, it's not like this is the first time you've done it. Like you said yesterday – Europe," Raven reminded her pointedly.

"Okay yeah, but maybe that's why I feel wrong doing it now. I hurt so many people last time."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but we all got over it. I mean, except for Finn. Did I tell you that I saw him a few days ago, by the way?"

Clarke's eyes widened. "Um, no you didn't! Why didn't you?"

"I must have forgotten. I kinda try to block the asshole from my thoughts," Raven admitted, "but anyway. He was at the same place I go for coffee on the mornings that I actually have extra time to do so."

Clarke waited for her friend to continue, but she didn't seem to be planning on doing so. "Okay, and? You can't tell me shit like that and not explain, Rae."

"He asked me how you were," Raven answered, shrugging. "Asked how you were living with me now, and told me that he's crashing with a friend right now because she doesn't think he can afford both an apartment for himself and his new car."

"How does he know that I live you right now?"

"I'd bet that Harper told him that you were planning on it when they still lived in the same area. Not that it really matters. He probably could've guessed that, since he knows that you probably wouldn't be living by yourself and your girlfriend lives over two hundred miles away."

"Yes, thanks for reminding me, Rae."

Raven suddenly groaned. "Shit, this trip is supposed to be about not thinking about our problems. Come on, let's play a road trip game since you get candy and I don't."

* * *

Clarke and Raven spread their towels across the sand. "You know, I spend so much time inside that I'm pretty sure people will start to think that I'm actually white soon."

"Lucky for me, no one hardly notices when I spend all of my life inside. I never tan."

"I'm aware," Raven said, smirking. "You just turn into a tomato if left in the sunlight for too long."

Clarke scowled at her best friend. "I do not."

"Yes, you do. Better lather on the sunscreen. If you burn, it'll probably still be there the next time that Lexa comes down, and then how would she be able to feel you up?" Raven was grinning wildly as she tossed a bottle of SPF 30 at the blonde.

"Wow, I see you care so much about me." Clarke opened the bottle and squirted some of the liquid into her hand, before beginning to rub it onto her skin. It was true, she burned pretty easily. However, she had spent most of the hot part of summer just working and living in DC, and now that it was the beginning of September, the sun was getting much less harsh.

Suddenly, Raven's phone began to ring. The brunette grabbed it and her finger hovered over the answer button as she said, "It's Anya."

"Don't answer," Clarke prompted. "I told Lexa I wasn't going to talk to her until I was home for this very reason, babe. You said that we need time away."

"Yeah, you're right."

Raven was still frozen in place as her phone rung. "Rae, she can still use the phone when she's in Texas." The brunette finally dropped the phone and spread herself across her towel.

"Time to relax, I guess."

After two hours of sunbathing, midday arrived abruptly with even more sun, and so the two of them retreated into the ocean. Swimming around and splashing each other was like a throw back. They hadn't been to Virginia Beach in years, and they'd used to come a lot in high school, especially with Clarke's dad. It was nice to be back, and to just be.

But by the time they got out of the water, grabbed lunch nearby and then returned to their little setup in the sand, Clarke did not feel refreshed.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked, noticing her best friend's strange demeanor.

"I just..." Clarke sighed. "This has been fun, and nice, and relaxing. But overall, it doesn't help, Rae. It doesn't relieve the stress. And frankly, I'm not sure I should be trying to forget it all."

"What do you mean?"

Clarke pursed her lips, thinking carefully about her words. "Maybe... maybe it's just because, I've done the whole running-from-your-drama thing. And at the time, I didn't have anything going on but my own pain, so it was hard to feel guilty about it, aside from leaving everyone. But now, it's like... I have to be responsible for my work and yeah, on top of work I'm dealing with long distance and stuff. But... I should be dealing with those things. And I want to deal with them. It just feels wrong to try and hide from them."

"That's not what we're doing," Raven insisted, crossing her legs as she readjusted her position on the towel. "We're not running, or hiding. We're just taking a break. All you do, C, is work and then go home to the apartment. You sometimes go out to other people's places or to clubs or cafes. But you spend so much time at the bar, and at home. You hardly draw anymore... your getaways don't happen as often because all you do is think about your problems. And that's good – you should think them through and figure them out. But it's also bad, because you weigh yourself down. And don't try to tell me that you haven't been weighed down at all – because I've noticed. It only goes away when Lexa is in DC, and that's understandable. When she's there, you don't have to worry about the fact that she's in New York, because she's not. I get it, it makes sense. But babe, I don't want you to be so focused on the negatives when she's gone."

"I focus on a lot of positives."

"Not enough," Raven said softly. "You don't let yourself think positively, because you feel like you have to counteract every positive point with a negative point. And that's not fair to yourself, C. I just wanted you to try to relax for a day."

"Thank you," Clarke mumbled with a sigh, "but can we go home now? I wanna call Lexa."

Raven smiled. "Of course."

* * *

"It was fun," Clarke said into the phone. "Hot and sunny, which I guess is good considering that I spent pretty much my whole summer indoors."

"Had I not had a sort of deadline for my Europe pictures, I would've gone in the summer," Lexa admitted. "It would've been hot, but I like being outside when it's summertime. Since I've been mostly working, though, I've also spent a lot of my summer inside."

"Maybe I'll spend lots of winter outside," Clarke said, smiling to herself.

"I'm glad you had fun."

"I missed you even more than normal while I was there."

Lexa chuckled. "It must've been because of the extra three hours worth of distance."

"Exactly," the blonde replied, a wide grin on her face. "You're perfect, did you know that?"

"I'm not."

"You are for me. And even though I have to wait... I am so excited to live with you some day. To live my actual real life with you, and go to sleep next to you with you guaranteed to be there still in the morning. I can't wait," Clarke murmured.

"Neither can I," Lexa replied quietly.

"I love you, babe."

"Love you too."

As Clarke fell asleep an hour after her conversation with Lexa, she couldn't really tell if Raven's trip had relaxed her or not, but something had. And she felt at peace, despite everything, and found herself, for once, content to wait.


	16. Chapter 16

It was two weeks later, a total of three weeks since the last time that Clarke and Lexa had seen each other in person and halfway through the month that Anya had to move out of New York that Clarke found herself the most bored and alone she'd felt in a while. It was Friday morning, and she woke up feeling at a loss. Her first instinct was to get up and find Raven, but her best friend most definitely had work that morning, and she knew that Octavia was at the gym with Lincoln all day as well. And most all of Clarke's friends worked during the day on weekdays anyway.

That was the worst part about working at the bar, honestly. All of her friends always wanted to relax at night, and that was when Clarke was always working. If it weren't for that, her job would be completely flawless.

She wasn't sure what Lexa's work times were that day, but she was sure that Raven was getting out of work early – at three. Her best friend hadn't actually told her that, but she'd seen the email pop up on Raven's phone that had been an approval for her to leave early the day before. So once had Clarke dragged herself out of bed and was pouring herself some cereal, she sent a text to her best friend.

 **To Rae Bae – I saw on your phone yesterday that you get off early today. Wanna hang for a couple hours before I go to work? X**

Despite her friend being at work, the reply was almost immediate.

 **To Rae Bae – Actually, I have an errand to run. Sorry! Will see you tonight, though, promise!**

Clarke sighed and scrolled through her contacts lazily. She was pretty sure that everyone she would want to hang out would be working, but she wasn't sure about Bellamy, so she shot him a text.

 **To Bell Boy – You working this morning?**

 **From Bell Boy – Nope! Netflix and chill? ;)**

 **To Bell Boy – You're gross.**

 **From Bell Boy – I'll be there in ten.**

Bellamy had always been easy to hang out with, at least for Clarke. While Octavia usually bickered with him, understandably, and Raven tended to just make fun of him and joke around with him a lot, Clarke found that she could have some of the deepest conversations ever with him. It was pretty weird, considering that she'd known him for less time than she'd known Octavia, and for way less time than she'd known Raven.

He showed up at the apartment ten minutes after texting, and Clarke let him in. "Hey. I am so bored, and everyone is working."

"Wow, I'm your last resort? Thanks a lot," Bellamy said, rolling his eyes dramatically as he entered the apartment and plopped down onto the couch. "What about Lexa? Can't call her?"

"Like I said, working." Clarke sighed and sat on the other end of the couch. "So what's up with you? How's life? How's your mom?"

"She's good. No more injuries yet," Bellamy answered, smirking. "She'd like you and your mom to come over sometime, though. Maybe we can all go out sometime, actually, that way neither of our moms have to host."

"That'd be fun," Clarke agreed. "What about you?"

"Eh, I'm fine," Bellamy answered, shrugging. "Nothing too great going on. Meanwhile, all you people have your lives getting put more and more together. I should get a girlfriend, honestly."

"Easier said that done."

Bellamy rolled his eyes. "Not for everyone else. Lincoln and Octavia were bound to get together. Raven comes out and days later is hooking up with someone. Harper's got a boyfriend, Jasper... okay well, Jasper lost his girlfriend, but he had one. You disappear to Europe to have an existential crisis and get a girlfriend. And then there's me."

"Don't tell me that you haven't hooked up with anyone in the last few weeks," Clarke said in disbelief.

"Okay yeah, I have hooked up with people. But that doesn't cut it for me, you know? I want the whole deal with someone," Bellamy muttered. "And I'm a year older than you, so don't give me the whole 'you'll find someone eventually' patronizing thing."

"Okay, well while I might be twenty-three, Lexa is twenty-six," Clarke said, crossing her arms. "You're not going to be alone forever, Bell."

"Ah, whatever. Feel like a movie?"

* * *

"So what did Raven say she was going out to do?" Bellamy asked, sipping his beer. Apparently, he hadn't had work at all that day, so after he had stayed at Clarke's place to hang out and watch a movie, he'd come alone to the bar with her as well. Clarke assumed that Raven wouldn't take to long to show up as well, but she still hadn't heard from her best friend.

"She didn't," Clarke answered, "just that she had an errand to do. Probably forgot to buy pads or something."

Bellamy raised an eyebrow. "And it takes two hours to do that?"

"I don't know," Clarke answered, laughing. "I stopped going shopping anytime that I'm not prepared for literally hours of being dragged around. She goes out for one thing and comes back with fifty. Doesn't help that she's obsessed with Target."

"Oh yeah, no," Bellamy agreed. He shook his head and added, "If I do eventually get to get serious with a girl, I am not letting her drag me to Target."

"You know that guys obsess over the place too, right?"

He scoffed. "Not me." His phone vibrated and he looked down at it before grinning. "The gang's headed over. Get me something stronger than this beer."

"Sure, Bell, since you asked so nicely."

Grinning widely, Bellamy corrected, "Please can you make me something stronger than this beer?" Clarke rolled her eyes but cracked a smile as she began to mix the drink that Bellamy always wanted. As she did so, she heard the door to the bar open and she hardly paid any attention to it just yet until she heard a certain voice.

"Hey." Clarke's eyes immediately jumped up away from what she was doing, widening as a grin spread across her face.

"Lexa! Oh my god! You're here!"

"I am," Lexa agreed, her smile bright as Clarke abandoned Bellamy's drink for a moment to run out from behind the bar and wrap her girlfriend in a hug. As she relaxed into Lexa's embrace, she noticed Raven and Anya standing behind the brunette.

"Hey Anya. Raven..."

"Okay, yeah, I knew they were coming, don't bite my head off," Raven immediately defended, and Clarke just laughed as she stepped back from Lexa.

"I won't," she promised. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I wanted to surprise you," Lexa answered, smiling widely as she watched the blonde move back to the bar.

"You couldn't have come a few hours earlier?" Bellamy asked, feigning utter disgust as he added, "Your girlfriend made me hang out with her all day because she was bored."

"Shut up," Clarke huffed, handing him his drink and then looking back at the green eyes that she could fall into. "You want something to drink, babe?"

"Might as well," Lexa answered, and she, Anya and Raven all took a seat at the bar. Despite it being Friday, the bar itself wasn't particularly full yet. It was only a few hours after it'd been opened for the day anyway.

Raven cleared her throat and announced, "Well I sent out a group text, so everyone's going to meet up here. But since I know that a certain couple here won't be able to be around each other for more than a few hours without having sex, I already told Harper that we won't be having a party."

"We can go more than a few hours without having sex," Lexa argued.

"Not when you're together," Raven argued, and Anya nodded in agreement.

Lexa huffed. "Not true."

"They're kinda right, babe," Clarke said, sliding Lexa her drink and starting on Raven's.

"So wait," Anya interrupted, "which one of you is more of the sex addict?"

Lexa narrowed her eyes. "Sex addict? Really?"

"Lexa is."

"I am not!"

"You really are," Clarke insisted.

Bellamy suddenly faked a gag. "Would you guys stop, you're starting to force unwanted visuals into my mind."

"You mean the thought of two girls fucking each other doesn't get you all worked up, Bell?" Raven asked, grinning and nudging him in the side.

"Not when it's you guys. I'm not a douche, Rae. Ugh. Remind me never to go out drinking with just a bunch of lesbians," Bellamy muttered, and Raven and Anya laughed loudly in response.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "I'm bi, Bell."

"Whatever!" He took back half of his drink in one gulp and Clarke fought a laugh. "The sooner everyone else gets here the better."

* * *

"So... is there any particular reason you showed up this weekend without telling me?" Clarke asked, wiping her face clean of makeup while looking in the mirror as Lexa changed in her room.

"I told you, I wanted to surprise you," Lexa insisted. "It was worth it to see your face, too."

"I was surprised," Clarke agreed, smiling softly into the mirror. "Well, I can't say I'm complaining. She splashed water over her face before drying it and heading back into her room, where Lexa was now wearing soft looking pajamas. "You really don't think that you're going to need those clothes, do you?"

Lexa flushed. "Mm, well. I think I need to prove that I'm not a sex addict."

"Aw, babe," Clarke murmured, grinning and tugging off her own shirt, dropping it aside. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to have sex." She took a step closer to Lexa, who purposefully stood her ground. "You're really not going to have sex with me because I said that you're more of a sex addict than I am?" Lexa sniffed in response, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well fine. I guess I can take care of myself. You'll be fine with that, right? I mean, you already listen to me do that all the time."

Clarke unhooked her bra and let it drop, facing her girlfriend head on. Lexa let out a low moan, but still didn't move. The blonde proceeded to drop her pants, wiggling out of them slightly and then hooking her fingers through her panties and dragging them off last. She stood completely nude in front of Lexa, whose eyes were not even trying to keep from wandering.

She stepped back and leaned herself against the wall, her blue eyes glued to Lexa's, and lightly ran her own hand down her body. Lexa watched, her gaze burning into Clarke almost like a physical touch would've. It was just as Clarke's fingers began to meet her own center that Lexa suddenly charged forward and pinned Clarke against the wall herself.

"No," Lexa growled, reaching in between Clarke's legs and removing her hand.

"Now you wanna step in?"

Not that Clarke was complaining as Lexa's lips met hers forcefully. She let a moan release into their kiss, and Lexa's hands greedily traced the curves and edges of her body slowly and tenderly. Her lips moved to Clarke's jaw and then neck, and there, Lexa murmured, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Clarke whispered back, her eyes fluttering closed as she relaxed in her position between the wall and her girlfriend, "so much."

Lexa's lips followed Clarke's collarbone to the center of her chest, where she began to lower them slowly but surely. Clarke found her body reacting desperately, rolling into Lexa's and trying to gain a closer proximity. Finally, though, Lexa's mouth found Clarke's throbbing center and gingerly began to take care of her needs.

"Fuck," Clarke moaned, rolling her head back only to have the wall stop the action. She groaned and then gasped as Lexa's fingers entered her abruptly. "O-oh, Lexa..."

Suddenly, a ripple of pleasure rushed through her body, and she let out a loud cry as she fell limp against the wall, and Lexa carefully exited her. Clarke felt her girlfriend's tongue still on her center, and she groaned lowly. Lexa finally came out from between her legs and stood, leaning against Clarke with a silly smile on her face. "You know, maybe you're the sex addict. I mean, it's over half of the time that I'm making you feel good anyway."

"It's not over half," Clarke insisted, as Lexa stepped back and grabbed Clarke's hands, grinning.

"Yes, it is. I don't mind, though."

"Of course you don't." The blonde chuckled, before biting her lower lip and looking at her still clothed girlfriend. "Remind me why you're not naked..."

"If you want me naked, make me naked." She released Clarke's hands and took a large step backwards. Clarke immediately pushed herself off of the wall and closed the gap between them again. Slowly, in the successful attempt to torture her girlfriend by the slow speed, Clarke took Lexa's pajamas off of her. Shirt first – revealing her already bare chest – and then her shorts, and lastly, her underwear. When Lexa was fully nude in front of her, the blonde didn't make any move to touch her, because she knew that that was what Lexa wanted. "Clarke..."

"I want you in my bed," Clarke pleaded, finally reaching out and grabbing Lexa by the hips before turning and pushing her down into the soft blankets covering her bed. Lexa let out an airy breath as she laid under the blonde.

"Now that I'm here, what are you going to do?"

Clarke gently ran her fingers through dark, curly hair. "You're so beautiful." Lexa flushed at the sudden compliment. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Clarke."

"Mm, and now, I'm going to prove it to you."

And, unsurprisingly, that's what she did, and then they continued to prove it to each other many, many times that night.


	17. Chapter 17

Clarke heard Lexa begin stirring in her bed the next morning as she was brushing her teeth, so she hurriedly finished and then peeked back into her room just as Lexa was sitting up and looking around. "Good morning," Clarke said, grinning at her girlfriend.

"Why are you out of bed?" Lexa muttered, pouting. "We have to spend as much time as we can pretending that we're still sleeping so that no one comes and interrupts us."

"Actually, that's exactly why I got up," Clarke admitted, turning off the bathroom light before making her way toward the bed. "I had to make a few calls, but... we officially have all day together, uninterrupted."

"Clarke, I didn't want you to have to take off of work..."

"It's fine, Lexa, really," Clarke insisted. "Wick just got out of a long week of meetings and shit about his new restaurant thing, so he said he'd be happy to work the bar tonight. And anyway, that's not all I did to get us uninterrupted time. I talked to Octavia and Raven, and they both agreed to keep everyone away from us this weekend. Or... at least, today. You're mine today."

"I'm always yours," Lexa reminded her, raising a perfect eyebrow and causing Clarke to flush. She slid under her blankets next to her girlfriend and grinned.

"I know, but... physically. You and I are both here in DC, and we're going to make it worth it. Which is why... I have a whole day planned out."

Lexa's jaw dropped. "How did you plan a whole day? I'm the one who surprised you, remember?"

"Well, since I actually live here, I kind of know what there is to do," Clarke answered, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, are you going to try and figure out how, or are you going to let me tell you how we're going to spend our whole day together, just us?"

Lexa pursed her lips purposefully, and Clarke smiled softly.

"So, we're not going to get up until we are all sexed out – or cuddled out, I mean... I don't want to be presumptuous." Clarke smirked as Lexa grinned. "And then once we are actually dressed – and yes, clothes are the worst part of the whole day – I'm going to take you out to lunch. And I'mgoing to pay. And then... well, this part is up for discussion. Because I wanted to show you the Smithsonian Art Museum, but you don't like art museums, so I thought we could compromise and go to the Smithsonian Museum of American History or something. Since you're a big history nerd."

Lexa bit back her wide smile. "That sounds great."

"Awesome! And then, I'm taking you out for dinner again."

"You won't let me pay for anything?"

"Of course not," Clarke insisted, furrowing her eyebrows. "I only even told you the plan so that I could make sure that you were okay with it. At first, I wanted to keep it a secret and pull a Europe on you. Since you never told me where we were going."

"That's not true," Lexa argued, laughing lightly as she snaked one of her arms around Clarke's waist and tugged her closer.

"Whatever... you paid for pretty much everything in Europe, and you pay for things for me too much. So, I'm paying for you all day today. Got it?" Clarke narrowed her eyes, trying her best to look intimidating but only getting a small laugh, almost a giggle, from her girlfriend in response.

"Okay," Lexa finally agreed. "But until then... am I allowed to pay you back preemptively for this amazing day through means other than money?" Green eyes darkened and looked pointedly down at Clarke's naked body.

"Hmm, I guess it depends on what you have in mind to use as payment. Few things in this world are worth more than money," Clarke teased, biting down on her lower lip as Lexa's hand began to run down her body.

"I think a lot of things are worth more than money," Lexa murmured thoughtfully, gripping Clarke's hip and gently turning her onto her back as she got up and quickly straddled the blonde.

"Easy for you to say. You have a bank account full of money."

"Yes, and I would give it all up just to have you forever," Lexa whispered, leaning down to press a hot, wet kiss against Clarke's stomach.

"You say that to all of the girls you pick up on vacations?"

"Only the pretty ones," Lexa murmured into her skin, and Clarke laughed in response. It cut off a few moments later, though, when two hands were holding her hips still and Lexa's face was between her legs.

* * *

"I guess whatever you said to Raven worked. Neither she or Anya have knocked all morning," Lexa murmured into Clarke's neck.

"I think they probably left. After I told Rae that I was claiming a day with you, I think she figured out the fact that we were going to be pretty loud until we left," Clarke admitted. "Which, we were."

"You're not wrong." Clarke felt a soft kiss press against her neck, and she sighed happily. "I love you."

"I love you too," Clarke replied. "Any idea what time it is?"

"How would I know? I don't even know what time it was when I woke up," Lexa answered, untangling herself from Clarke. The blonde just shrugged and then grabbed her phone off of her nightstand.

"Ugh, it's almost noon," Clarke muttered. "The museum doesn't close until seven thirty, but we need time to have both lunch and dinner. So."

"So we have to get up?" Lexa asked, raising an eyebrow as the blonde nodded. "Damn. I was kind of content to stay here with you all day."

"Come on, it'll be fun, babe." Clarke gave the brunette her best pout, and Lexa gave in instantly, beginning to get up. "Plus, you have to be hungry by now."

"Maybe I am a little hungry," Lexa agreed grudgingly. Clarke threw the blankets off of her naked body and hopped up excitedly. She was definitely enthused for her day with Lexa – without anyone else, or any distance, in the way. The last time they'd had a day like that was before Clarke had come home from her trip to Europe. Far to long ago. Clarke liked to think that it wouldn't be too long from now that she could have days like this with Lexa all of the time. Though, actually questioning how long that would be gave her too much anxiety, so she decided not to.

"Do clothes have to be a part of this?" Lexa whined, as Clarke made her way toward her dresser.

"Yes, unfortunately it's not really allowed for us to walk around DC in complete nudity," Clarke deadpanned, smirking as she opened one of the drawers and retrieved clean underwear and a bra.

"Technicalities," Lexa muttered, suddenly much closer, and Clarke felt familiar boobs press softly against her back. The blonde let out an involuntary hum of contentment at the feeling.

"You're distracting me," Clarke whined, feeling soft lips on her neck.

"That's the idea."

Clarke groaned, gently turning around and pressing her lips against Lexa's, pushing her backwards until they were on the other side of the room, near where Lexa's suitcase was sitting. When they were there, Clarke detached their lips and gave her girlfriend a pointed look. "Get clothes."

"We need to shower first, Clarke."

"Okay, go shower."

"You're really going to wait for me to shower before you do?"

Clarke gave her girlfriend a defiant look, determined to make Lexa shower by herself, but she gave in way too easily and huffed as she slumped a little in resignation. Lexa grinned, grabbing Clarke's hand and eagerly pulling her into the bathroom. Hot water was running a moment later, and Clarke found herself being tugged under it by her girlfriend, who did not seem to be there for the showering. Clarke was suddenly, and unsurprisingly, pinned against the shower wall. "Lexa, we have to go to lunch..."

Lexa dragged her hands up and down the sides of Clarke's soaked body, her burning green gaze soaking her entire being up. Clarke heard herself moan as she watched Lexa look at her like that – like she was worth everything in the world. "Are you sure about that?"

Clarke felt a leg slide slowly in between hers, and her eyes flickered closed as Lexa's body pressed up against her own. A tongue pressed against her shoulder, followed by soft lips, and they sucked the skin there tenderly.

"We can be really fast," Lexa murmured into her skin.

The blonde was nodding immediately, her hands finding Lexa's ass and pulling their centers closer together. As promised, Lexa responded quickly, her lips meeting Clarke's as her hand slid between soft thighs. Clarke gasped as fingers gently stroked her throbbing clit. Her girlfriend knew exactly what would send her over the edge quickly and effectively, and even though the moment could've been hours to Clarke as she found her surroundings blurring in her euphoria, the temperature of the water against her skin when she came down from her orgasm told her that it had been hardly any time at all. Lexa followed through on her statement.

As soon as it had happened, Lexa was pulling away, grabbing for Clarke's body wash and beginning to clean herself. Still panting, Clarke asked, "Now you're all ready to shower?"

"Oh come on, you have to be hungry by now."

"Don't mock me," Clarke grumbled, grabbing the soap from Lexa as the brunette let out a bright laugh. Clarke's heart warmed at the sound, as it never failed to do.

"I would never," Lexa insisted, chuckling.

Clarke huffed. "You're impossible."

"Yet here I am."

"Chill on the smart ass," Clarke sassed, grinning at the brunette as she began to clean herself off. She didn't feel dirty really, but the amount of sex she'd had in the past twelve hours was definitely reason enough for a good scrub down. "I don't remember you being near as sassy when I first met you."

"Maybe I was trying to impress you."

Clarke scoffed. "Like you needed to. You're smooth as fuck, Lexa, don't even pretend that you're not."

"What do you mean?" Lexa asked, looking genuinely curious to know why Clarke considered her "smooth as fuck".

"You just... are. If someone were to write a very detailed account of our time in Europe, it would be obvious to anyone that you literally scooped me up with ease using your magical powers of flirtation," Clarke insisted, her lips quirking up into a small smile. The joyful laugh that began to echo through the shower turned that small smile into a grin.

"I'll have to keep that in mind, I guess," Lexa said thoughtfully, once she was no longer laughing. She grabbed Clarke's shampoo and began to wash her hair.

"Don't you have your own hair products?" Clarke scrunched her nose a little, raising an eyebrow at the brunette.

Lexa gently kneaded the shampoo into her hair. "Sure. But yours smell nice. Plus, I'd rather not drip through your bathroom and bedroom just to go get mine."

"Fair point." Clarke reached for her shampoo as well, but Lexa had it hand before she could get it. The brunette poured some into her left hand, and then gently turned Clarke around with her right hand. Clarke felt Lexa's body get closer to her own, and then longer fingers were rubbing shampoo into her hair. She let out a pleased sigh at the feeling. "I guess I do have nice hair products."

Lexa chuckled. "Yes, you do."

"I have a pretty great girlfriend too," Clarke murmured.

"You're not wrong."

Clarke laughed now, scrunching her nose again. "And a fucking modest one at that."

"Very."

They moved their position a little bit so that water was now running through their hair, and Clarke let Lexa rinse her hair and wash the soap out completely. When she was done, it took only another minute or so for them to finish with Lexa's hair, and then they both stumbled out of the shower at the same time.

They pulled two towels off of the rack on the wall, and began to dry themselves off. "Aren't you glad we showered together now?"

"Oh shush," Clarke retorted, leading the way back into her room and smirking as she made her way to her dresser again. She grabbed the underwear that she'd left abandoned on top of the piece of furniture and slipped them on. She heard Lexa huff in annoyance as she did so, and the blonde chuckled softly in response. "Put on some damn clothes, babe."

"I am," Lexa insisted, but Clarke glanced over her shoulder to confirm that the brunette was indeed sliding underwear on now.

Fifteen minutes later found them finally fully clothed and getting into Clarke's car in the parking lot. "Do you have any food preference for lunch?"

"Nope. I'm easy."

"You really are," Clarke agreed, smirking as Lexa shot her a playful glare. The brunette gave in a moment later and let out a sigh shaking her head.

"Maybe for you."

"Definitely for me."

"I'm hungry."

Clarke scoffed, pulling out of the parking lot and beginning the short drive to one of her favorite burger places. "Well we could've eaten by now if you weren't so clingy."

"You love me."

"Well, yes."

"Even when I'm clingy."

Clarke couldn't fight her smile anymore, and she displayed it with pride. "Yeah, true."

* * *

After they had each consumed a burger and plenty of fries, Clarke drove them to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Clarke knew that European history was probably way more interesting to her girlfriend than American History, but there wasn't really a Smithsonian Museum of European History in Washington DC. Lexa didn't seem at all put off by the type of history held in the museum, however.

As soon as they entered the place – Clarke paying for it as she'd sworn she would – Lexa was off. Clarke actually had trouble keeping up with her as she excitedly went from exhibit to exhibit. She found it endearing, though, how much Lexa loved history. It was easy to believe that she'd majored in it, though Clarke didn't really know what Lexa though she'd do with it as a career. Maybe she'd known all along that she wanted to be a photographer, but history had just seemed like a better major. Either way, Clarke wished that her girlfriend could at least work at a history museum. Though, maybe she was afraid that she'd lose her fascination for it if she were there all the time.

Clarke quickly dismissed that thought, however, because she knew from experience that being around something that you loved for a long period of time didn't necessarily make you love it less. Especially not something that important to you.

Hours went by, and Clarke found herself immersed in Lexa and the museum. The brunette kept launching into stories about history and explanations of exhibits, and Clarke found herself entranced by not only how adorable her girlfriend was, but by her passion. She knew that Lexa was a passionate person – that much was clear by her photography and the way she loved. And as she took in the beautiful, deep, passionate, amazing woman in front of her, she knew that she was so incredibly lucky.

They were walking out of the museum at six in the evening, their hands intertwined, when Lexa said softly, "Sorry if you got bored. We were in there a while."

"I couldn't ever get bored when I'm with you, Lexa," Clarke promised, bumping her hip against Lexa's. "And I had a lot of fun, so don't worry. Now for dinner. Do you have any food preferences now?"

"Nope."

"You're easy?"

"Oh be quiet," Lexa mumbled, squeezing Clarke's hand.

* * *

"I'm so full," Clarke groaned, leaning against the brunette who gladly supported her as they exited the restaurant.

"I told you not to eat so much," Lexa chastised playfully. She looked around their surroundings, and Clarke stood a bit straighter, grabbing a soft hand in her own.

"Let's walk around a little. We have all night and tomorrow to be at my place," she reasoned, dragging her girlfriend across the street.

"Where are we walking to?" Lexa wondered. "You know, I actually have no idea where in DC we are right now."

Clarke smirked. "Wow, this is a first. I know where I'm going, and you don't." Nothing else was said as Clarke continued to lead her girlfriend in a particular direction, until they reached the edge of the rows of streets and buildings and a huge greenery area appeared, as well as a view of Capitol Hill and the other government buildings surrounding it.

"Oh wow," Lexa murmured suddenly.

They walked in the general direction of the building, and Clarke found a memory popping up in her head and she smiled softly. "When I was about six, I thought that Capitol Hill was the same thing as the White House, and my mom tried to explain to me the difference. I really didn't get it, apparently, so my dad took me to look at the White House, and then directly over here to look at the Capitol. My poor little mind was so confused."

Lexa smiled. "The White House is... that way, right?" Lexa pointed to the north west, and Clarke nodded.

"Look at you being all good at geography," the blonde muttered jokingly, her blue eyes rolling as the brunette laughed.

"Next time I'm here I want to take pictures," Lexa mused.

"Okay," Clarke agreed, smiling just at the idea of Lexa being here again with her. She would never get over the feeling of joy that spread through her chest at the idea of physically being with her girlfriend. One thing she knew for sure was that after long distance, she would never allow herself to take time with Lexa for granted. Not that she would anyway. "Don't you carry your camera around everywhere you go anyway?"

"Well, yeah," Lexa answered, flushing a little. "But I'm not going to ruin our date to take pictures."

Clarke bit her lower lip to hold back the wide smile that wanted to spread across her face in response to Lexa's blush. "Okay."

"Anyway, if there was one thing worth taking my camera out for... it wouldn't be the Capitol or the White House or anything," Lexa stated matter-of-factly, causing Clarke's eyebrow to raise in curiosity.

"Oh yeah, what would it be?"

"You – you're the best subject for pictures anyway. Always more beautiful than anything else around you," Lexa answered cheekily, and Clarke let out a bright laugh. "Are my magical powers of flirtation working?"

"You're unbelievable," Clarke murmured, stopping their slow walk in order to pull her girlfriend closer for a kiss, "and I love you."

"I love you, too," Lexa replied into the kiss.

* * *

"Answer your phone, Clarke, that's like the fifth time it's rung," Lexa insisted. She and Clarke were sprawled across the blonde's bed, just talking as Clarke doodled in her sketchbook, but her phone had interrupted them five times in the past five minutes.

"Fine," Clarke grumbled, annoyed at having to interrupt her Lexa time. The whole day was meant to be dedicated to her girlfriend, and she had explicitly asked her best friends not to call her. However, she too agreed that it must be important if Raven was calling five times. As she answered the call, she immediately said, "Someone better be dead or dying, Rae."

"Nope," Raven answered lightly. "I just wanted to check that you were alive. I know you wanted the whole privacy thing today, but I expected at least one text. What if you'd been murdered."

"I'm twenty-three, Raven, not sixteen. I don't have to text you every time I leave one place and go to another," she grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anya and I were checking on whether or not it's safe for us to come back to the apartment? We were out this morning for breakfast, and then went to hang out with O at the gym, because Anya wanted to see it anyway. And then we went for drinks with Harper, but to be honest, we are both horny as fuck, and I wanna have some sex. So."

Clarke snorted with laughter at the unexpected turn of the conversation. "Sure, Rae, it's safe enough for you to return and have a sex marathon with Anya."

Lexa's eyes widened as she heard the blonde's statement, and Clarke tried not to break out into laughter again. "Cool thanks! Feel free to have some loud sex tonight as well if we're too annoying."

"Oh, I'm sure we will."

"You mean you're not tired from last night? Jesus, Clarke, you two are like sex machines." This voice belonged not to Raven, but to Anya, and Clarke felt her cheeks flushed as she realized that Lexa's best friend was listening.

"Yeah yeah, leave us alone," Clarke bit back, grinning at her girlfriend. "Anyway, you interrupted precious girlfriend time, so I'm gonna have to let you guy. See you guys tomorrow – AKA, don't barge in here to announce your presence. We'll know by the banging noises and moans that are sure to be heard."

"See you tomorrow, Griffin!"

The call ended, and Clarke tossed her phone down. "I'm not sure how Rae will survive once Anya moves. I think she really likes her."

Lexa hummed thoughtfully. "Anya probably wouldn't admit it yet, but she really likes Raven too. I hope that they stay in touch enough to be together. I mean, they already text all the damn time, so I'm sure that they'll keep doing that when Anya moves. Even if they don't get in a formal relationship or anything."

"Formal relationship," Clarke repeated, smirking.

"You know what I mean, like, exclusive."

"I know, you're just a dork, Lexa," Clarke said, chuckling and setting her sketchbook aside. She adjusted her position so that she was leaning against her girlfriend, cuddling into her comfortably. Lexa's arms immediately wrapped around her, and they buried themselves further under the covers.

"I had a lot of fun today, Clarke. Thank you," Lexa whispered into messy, blonde hair.

"You're welcome," Clarke returned, sighing happily. "Today was perfect. I love having you all to myself."

"I'm the one who finally got you all to myself," Lexa argued. "Last time I was here, your friends hogged you for the whole weekend."

"I know, which is why I stole away for today. I needed sufficient Lexa time."

"And was ti sufficient?"

A sad sigh escaped the blonde's lips before she could stop it, and for the first time all day, the sinking feeling that came with the fact that Lexa lived four hours away returned. "It'll never be sufficient. Not until I can wake up and fall asleep next to you every day."

"One day, baby," Lexa whispered softly, tightening her embrace around Clarke. "Hopefully one day not too far away."

"Hopefully."

"You tired?"

"No," Clarke denied, though being curled up next to Lexa was definitely lulling her into sleep. "I'm wide awake..."

"Sure you are. Go to sleep, I'll be here in the morning."

"Promise?"

"I promise."


	18. Chapter 18

Clarke woke to the feeling of fingers scraping gently against her scalp, occasionally stopping their motion to play with tendrils of soft, blonde hair. It was easily one of the most comforting feelings, pleasant enough to keep Clarke from immediately thinking about the fact that it was Sunday, and that Lexa would have to go home that day. However, it was impossible not to think about at all. The thought haunted her, and she instinctively pulled herself impossibly closer to the brunette to keep away from it.

"Clarke?" a soft voice whispered. "Are you awake?"

"No," the blonde mumbled in denial, only to hear a soft chuckle in response.

"I have to pee."

"No."

"Clarke."

"No."

"I will pee in your bed."

Clarke finally detached herself from her girlfriend, forcing her eyes open to glare at Lexa, who was giving her a bright smile nonetheless. The brunette quickly scrambled out of the bed, running into the bathroom quickly. Clarke sighed, grabbing the pillow Lexa had been using and cuddling into it. It smelled like her girlfriend, despite the fact that Lexa had showered with her shampoo. It was a smell that was just innately Lexa.

She heard the bathroom door reopen rather than seeing it, because her eyes were already resealed shut. "Hey, that's mine."

"Actually," Clarke mumbled in response, "it's definitely mine. But it smells like you."

Lexa gently tugged it out of Clarke's grasp, despite the tired, half-assed effort Clarke put in to keep her grip on it. "You know what else smells like me?" The brunette crawled back under the blankets, and blue eyes peeled open again to meet green ones as Lexa scooted closer to her. "Me."

"True," she agreed, wrapping her arms around the brunette and burying her face into Lexa's chest. She was wearing a tank top, but her cleavage was readily available. She let out a surprised squeak as Clarke poked her tongue out against the valley between her boobs.

"Clarke!"

"I'm sorry, they're just so soft," Clark murmured contently, snuggling into Lexa's boobs.

"You are seriously too much," Lexa teased, her hands sliding under the back of the blonde's shirt and dragging over the soft skin there, before sliding down and under Clarke's shorts and underwear to grab her ass.

"Hey," the blonde huffed lazily.

"If you can touch, so can I."

"Fair enough."

There was suddenly a knock on the door. "Morning, sleepy heads!"

"Leave us alone, Rae!" Clarke called in annoyance.

"We have company, loser. In the form of another Griffin."

Clarke pulled away from the brunette quite unhappily, and Lexa gave her a curious look. "My mom?"

"Unless you're accustomed to ghosts visiting you, I'm pretty sure that was obvious," Raven called back.

"Fuck off, Rae!" Clarke snapped, furrowing her eyebrows.

"You're right, that was bad. Sorry. Anyway, I'm getting a glare from the other Griffin now and I can feel yours through the door, so do you mind dragging your asses out of bed so that I don't die? Thanks, I appreciate it! Meanwhile, I'm going to attend to the naked hottie in my bed," Raven called, and Clarke could practically hear her smirk.

"Raven!" she heard her mother scold instantly.

"Well, I guess my mom's here," Clarke groaned, pulling herself away from Lexa completely in order to roll out of bed and begin to stumble her way to her dresser.

"Just pretend like we're not here?" Lexa suggested, causing Clarke to immediately light up a little and laugh.

"I think that would be pretty hard to do considering she just heard me talking," the blonde countered, though a smile on stuck on her face now. "But if I have to get up and become presentable, so do you babe."

"No," Lexa whined, shaking her head. "No, no, no."

"Yes, yes, yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

Clarke rolled her eyes, changing her t-shirt out for a slightly nicer top and then sliding her shorts off and replacing them with leggings. "You know, for someone who is technically older than me, you are way less mature than I am."

"I am not," Lexa argued, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yeah, all you ever wanna do is lay in bed."

"I don't think that's part of the maturity scale," the brunette insisted, though she was getting out of bed anyway and making her way over to her open suitcase. "And anyway, I'm not that much older than you."

"Three years means that you were a freshman in college when I was a sophomore in high school."

"Okay well, newsflash, you're not even in college anymore, let alone high school," Lexa stated unnecessarily. "And three years is only a significant difference when there's a minor with an adult. And in case you forgot, we are both adults here."

"I didn't forget," Clarke tossed back playfully, flashing her girlfriend a cheeky smile. Lexa rolled her eyes, shaking her head and unable to fight the smile that was appearing on her face.

"Clarke?" The voice was her mother's, calling her through the door.

"Coming," the blonde called back, pulling her hair back into a quick pony tail and not bothering with anything else before slipping out of the bedroom. She left Lexa in there, since the brunette wasn't completely changed yet. "Hey, mom, what's up?"

Her mom was dressed as if it was already past noon – which it totally could've been, and Clarke wouldn't have had any idea anyway – and looked slightly impatient. "I texted you a few times, and tried to call, earlier this morning. Aurora invited us to lunch today. As in... now."

"Oh, shit," Clarke said, widening her eyes.

"Language, Clarke," Abby chastised, shaking her head. "She also invited Raven, but I suppose she missed the memo that a certain couple of girls were going to be here this weekend."

"They surprised us," Clarke admitted.

Abby nodded. "So Raven said. Well, I called Aurora and she agreed that we can do dinner instead. According to Raven, Lexa and Anya will have left by then."

Clarke felt herself deflate a little bit physically, and her smile diminished a little bit as she nodded. "Yeah." Her bedroom door opened suddenly, and Lexa appeared next to her.

"Good morning, Ms. Griffin," Lexa said quickly, smiling.

"Call me Abby, please," Abby insisted, smiling in return, before seeming to realize herself and scoffing slightly to add, "Also, it's noon."

"We had a long day yesterday, so we slept a while," Clarke admitted. "We just woke up like ten minutes ago."

"Mm. Well, I have to get to the hospital for a few hours before dinner. So I'll see you later. It was nice to see you again, Lexa. I hope you'll visit DC again soon."

"You too, Abby. And I hope so as well."

Abby gave a smile and a nod to Clarke and Lexa both, and then left the apartment.

"Did we just get dressed for nothing?"

"We did," Clarke confirmed, huffing and turning around, grabbing her girlfriend's hands and gently guiding her back into her bedroom. "But that's not an irrevocable mistake."

"You're not wrong."

"Of course not."

"But it is noon."

Clarke narrowed her eyes, closing her bedroom door behind her. "Well, if Anya isn't up yet, you can't head home yet anyway. So, I think that means I have you to myself for a couple more hours, don't you think?"

"I suppose so," Lexa agreed, smiling. "So let's get rid of these clothes."

* * *

"I'm sorry I didn't know that Lexa was here, Clarke," Aurora said apologetically, "I just decided this morning to invite everyone together, and I didn't remember any mention of her coming down. I would've invited her as well, of course, but I understand that you woke up pretty late."

Octavia snickered and brought her hands up to make air quotes as she said, "Woke up late."

"We actually did wake up late, thank you very much," Clarke insisted, narrowing her eyes.

"You sure you weren't up early just spending hours doing something else?"

"Guys," Abby interrupted, looking uncomfortable. Aurora just laughed brightly.

"Do you all never grow older than seventeen?"

"We are all perfectly mature adults, actually," Raven insisted. "I mean, except for Bellamy."

Bellamy's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding? I'm easily the most mature out of all of you! Not to mention that I'm the oldest."

"Actually, Rae is older than you, Bell. Remember?"

"By a day."

Octavia rolled her eyes. "You and your stupid age debates. Sometimes it's just easier being the youngest. At least there's never any competing for it."

Raven rolled her eyes, exchanging a playful glare with Bellamy, and Clarke chuckled, taking a bite of her food. "Thanks for dinner by the way, Aurora. It's really good."

"Of course! Bellamy kept insisting that we all go out, but I wanted to cook," Aurora said, grinning. "I never have anyone to cook for anymore, what with Octavia and Bellamy always out and living their lives."

"Hey, I come see you every week," Octavia reminded her mother, crossing her arms.

Bellamy coughed and said, "I come see you every three days."

"You two are literally children," Abby said, shaking her head and laughing.

"At least you didn't know them when they were actually teenagers," Aurora teased, smiling softly. "I'm sure Clarke and Raven were much better behaved."

"I don't know about that."

Clarke and Raven both feigned offense at the same time. "Mom! We were perfectly well behaved."

"Actually, you're right. And you both might've been more well behaved at seventeen than you are now," Abby said pointedly, looking between the two of them.

"Why, because we were both banging hot girls this morning?"

Bellamy nearly choked on his food at the suddenly direction shift of the conversation, and Octavia let out an abrupt laugh. Clarke flushed and glared at her best friend. "I told you, Lexa and I just slept in this morning."

"Okay, but what about after your mommy left?" Raven asked, smirking. "Because that didn't sound like sleeping."

"Okay, too much information," Abby muttered, poking at her food.

Aurora laughed and shook her head. "I'm going to go grab dessert."

"I'll help," Bellamy volunteered, hopping up.

Octavia looked between her two best friends and said, "You two are seriously too much."

"What she said," Abby agreed, shaking her head.

Clarke grinned. "You love us."

"Sometimes."

They were in the middle of eating dessert when Clarke's phone started ringing. The look that her mom gave her told her that she should ignore the call to be polite, but she was a grown woman and if she needed to take a call, she was going to take a call. She wasn't actually planning to, though, until she saw that it was Lexa. "Oh, sorry, it's Lexa. I'll be right back."

She hopped up from the table and escaped the room before answering the call. "Hey," Lexa said upon Clarke picking up the call, "I'm back at my apartment."

"You get home all good then?" Clarke asked softly, smiling as she leaned against the wall.

"Hmm, yeah. You know, it's weird. New York feels less and less like home the more time I spend with you," Lexa admitted. "And it's not that DC feels like my home. It's just you. Sorry, I'm probably super sappy right now because I miss you."

"It's fine," Clarke insisted, chuckling. "I can handle super sappy. At least you aren't suffering through dinner with the Blake siblings, their mom, my mom and Raven. Sappy is much preferred."

"Well I'd swoop in an save you if I could," Lexa offered, chuckling.

"Maybe I can run away to New York all week and hide from these crazy people," Clarke suggested playfully, knowing that she couldn't take a whole week off of work even if she wanted to. Her month long period of not working in April had put a strain on her financial situation at the time, and she was now not only more concerned about keeping her job, but keeping her income steady as well.

"Maybe not this week," Lexa replied, also playfully, but then she added, "my apartment is kind of trashed right now."

"What? You're like the neatest person ever, how is it trashed?"

"I'm not that neat, Clarke. And anyway, I was just going through my closet and stuff. Shit happens."

Clarke hummed in agreement. "True. I'd still run away there if I could. You are definitely preferred over these crazy people."

"Clarke," Raven called, "I'm going to eat your cake if you don't get your ass back here!"

"Raven! Language!" Abby immediately scolded, and Clarke heard her best friend mumble a halfhearted apology.

"I'm being summoned back to dinner," Clarke muttered grouchily.

"Don't suffer too much." Clarke could picture her soothing smile in her head. "I expect at least a text message when you're home to make sure that you didn't die."

"You'll get more than a text message," Clarke promised, her tone just as flirtatious as she'd wanted it to be.

"Mm, well I will be waiting. Go finish your dinner," Lexa prompted, chuckling as Clarke let out a sigh.

"Okay, fine, I will. Love you."

"I love you, too."

Clarke hung up the call and walked back into the dining room dejectedly. "Rude," she snapped as she realized that Raven was eating her cake.

"I told you!" she exclaimed.

Aurora cleared her throat. "So, Clarke, tell me about this girl you're dating!"


	19. Chapter 19

"So," Clarke said into her phone, "this weekend is the weekend Anya leaves."

"Yeah," Lexa confirmed, sighing. "She's actually leaving tomorrow to give her some more time to get everything together. She wants a chill day on Sunday before having to start working. I don't really blame her. I'm seeing her off tomorrow morning."

"So are you alright?" Clarke's voice was soft as she leaned into her pillow and frowned. She knew that it had to be at least somewhat upsetting for her girlfriend that Anya was moving halfway across the country.

"I'll be okay," Lexa answered.

Clarke fiddled with her blanket and then it occurred to her that while it was eleven in the morning on a Wednesday and she was still in bed, Lexa should've been at work. "Are you at work right now?"

"Ah, no. I'm actually not working at all this week," Lexa admitted.

"Oh, why?"

"You know. Been helping Anya finish packing up her apartment and making sure it's all nice and polished for the landlord so she doesn't get any flack about it when she's in Texas and can't do anything about it," Lexa answered. "It's nice to get off from work again, though."

"Gotcha." Clarke furrowed her eyebrows a little. "So what are you doing this weekend?"

"Oh, I have some things to take care of," the brunette said quickly, causing Clarke to raise an eyebrow. "Speaking of. Anya needs me to go pick up food for us to eat for lunch so. I'll call you tonight?"

"Yeah, sure," Clarke agreed, frowning a little. "I get off at midnight."

"Okay, love you!"

"Love you too." The line ended, and Clarke dropped her phone with a sigh. She couldn't help but wonder if something was up with her girlfriend. It was possible, of course, that she was just working through Anya leaving. But what if it was something else? After spending five minutes or so trying to figure it out, Clarke just decided that it must be the fact that Anya was moving, and finally pulled herself out of bed.

Clarke exited her room and started as she noticed her best friend sitting on the couch, looking with concern at her phone. "Hey, shouldn't you be working?"

Raven looked up, eyes widening a little in surprise. "Oh, yeah I took today off."

"Why?"

"Have some errands I have to run."

Clarke crossed her arms. "Can I come with? I don't have anything to do until work tonight."

"Um, it'll probably take longer than that, honestly. So it might be best that you don't come," Raven answered, pocketing her phone and standing up from the couch. She grabbed her purse and fumbled through it for her keys. "I'll see you later."

"Wait, Rae, what's going on with you? You've been jumpy and kind of distant over the past week or so. Maybe even since Lexa and Anya were here the weekend before last. So what the fuck gives?" Clarke looked pointedly at her best friend, who sighed.

"Look Clarke. How about we talk about this tomorrow – I really have to get going. But I promise I'll talk to you about it tomorrow," Raven insisted, before giving Clarke a quick wave and disappearing out the door..

Clarke spent the rest of the afternoon up until her shift at the bar trying to figure out what was up with Raven. She kept having mysterious errands to run, and she'd been jumpy every time Clarke tried to talk to her while she was on the phone. The blonde was starting to think that Raven had a secret girlfriend or something, but Clarke was sure that Raven would've told her about anyone. She would, wouldn't she?

She decided to try not to think about it too much, and ended up going to Lincoln's gym to try and get a break from everything. She found him there and exchanged a brief conversation with him before actually attempting a work out. She was slightly surprised to not see Octavia working that day, but she realized that her friend might've been in one of the offices or something. Nevertheless, by the time she finally walked into work later that day, the Raven situation was in the back of her mind.

It was about an hour into her shift when Octavia came prancing into the bar with a wide smile on her face. "I think Lincoln is going to propose to me."

Clarke's eyebrows shot up. "Holy shit, really? Already?"

Octavia scowled. "It's been six months. That's not that fast, considering that we probably should've been dating for a year longer than that."

"What makes you think he's going to do it soon?" Clarke wondered.

"He's been like ten times more sappy in the past week, and I saw some sort of jewelry box in our bedroom today when I got home from work early. He was working the afternoon so he wasn't there and I saw it, and I wanted to look inside but... I thought that would be a bitch move so I didn't. But now I'm like... I'm excited if he is going to propose, but what if he gives it to me soon and it's not a ring?" Octavia now looked worried, and Clarke tried to give her a look of sympathy.

"I'm sure it'll all be fine, O. Even if he doesn't propose, he loves you, and I'm sure that assuming everything works out, you guys will get married," Clarke reassured her. "Don't stress about it."

"I guess you're right."

"But now that you say you and Lincoln have been together for six months... that means that Lexa and I have been together for like... five. But it doesn't feel that long – it still feels brand new. But... like also not brand new. You know what I mean?" Clarke asked, before huffing and shaking her head. "It's weird."

"Totally not weird," Octavia argued. "It makes perfect sense. But don't worry – just because Lincoln might be proposing to me doesn't mean that you have to propose to Lexa in a month."

Clarke snorted. "Yeah, don't worry, I wasn't thinking that."

"Would you want to marry her?"

Blue eyes blinked, and then blond eyebrows furrowed. "Well, yeah of course. Just... maybe not right now. Especially considering that we haven't even lived with each other yet. I think that's a pretty important thing to do before marrying someone."

"I agree," Octavia said, sounding satisfied with Clarke's answer as she finally sat down on one of the bar stools. "Can I get a beer?"

"Mmhmm," Clarke hummed out as an answer, getting her friend a beer quickly. Once she'd handed the drink over, she decided to bring up another topic. "So, has Raven seemed weird to you lately?"

"No. Why?"

"She's been jumpy and weird and... avoiding me maybe? Plus, she keeps having strange errands to run," Clarke answered, leaning against the bar counter. "I asked if I could go with her on one today, and she said no because it would take too long or something. I feel like she's secretly dating someone or something."

"She would tell you if she was dating someone," Octavia insisted, not sounding worried about it at all. "Plus, isn't she sort of dating Anya?"

"They haven't said one way or the other yet. So far they've just done a lot of talking and had a lot of sex, at least from what I know. Plus, I don't know if Rae is interested in a serious long distance relationship or not." Clarke groaned dejectedly. "I guess I'll just wait until tomorrow. She said she'd talk to me about it then."

"So yeah, wait," Octavia agreed, nodding firmly. "I think we've all learned that Rae will say what's on her mind when she's ready."

Clarke smiled. "Yeah, you're right."

* * *

"You're not going to come back to see us wearing cowboy hats and boots are you?" Tristan asked, snorting before drinking back a long sip from his beer.

"Um, no." Anya rolled her eyes and sipped her champagne. "Don't worry, I won't get an accent or a drawl either. I'll be the same Anya as ever, just living in a much more boring place."

"I'm sure Texas is plenty interesting," Luna said, glaring at Tristan, who was already snickering again.

Anya smiled. "I'm sure it is, but without you crazies, it can't be near as interesting as New York."

"Well, New York is about to get a lot less interesting," Tristan said sadly, glancing at Lexa and then looking back at Anya. Lexa nodded sadly, and the mood suddenly shifted.

"Dammit," Quint huffed, crossing her arms, "now it's depressing."

"So let's break out some shots or something," Anya said quickly. "I refuse to let any of you start crying or some shit."

"Well we wouldn't be crying over you leaving if we were to start crying," Luna teased, causing Lexa to laugh loudly as Anya glared at them both.

"Love you both too."

"Oh relax, Anya." Lexa nudged her best friend as Quint set shots out on Luna's coffee table in front of them. "You know that we're all going to miss you a ton."

"I'm going to miss you guys way more than you'll miss me, trust me." Anya grabbed one of the shots and took it back quickly, and the rest of the group did the same, aside from Lexa. She still had to call Clarke later, and she wasn't going to be drunk for it considering how short their phone call had been earlier. "You gonna drink that?" When Lexa shook her head no, Anya grabbed it and it was gone in seconds.

"Another round?"

* * *

Clarke woke up early on Thursday morning with the intention of getting Raven to talk to her before the brunette went off to work, but instead she found a text on her phone from her best friend.

 **From Rae Bae – Sorry, C! We'll talk later! I had to go into work really early to fix something that someone apparently broke on the first day I've taken off at the place. At least they're not as bad as the lawyers. They managed to half fix the problem while I was gone. But it's with code that I wrote so I have to figure it out. I promise we will talk later! Love you, and thank me later!**

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows. Thank Raven later? For what?

Deciding that it was too much trouble to try and figure out when she was going to see the brunette later, Clarke gave up and found herself curled back up in her bed.

* * *

Lexa crossed her arms over her chest, hugging her coat tighter around her. She was standing in front of her apartment building, facing her best friend, whose car was parked neatly next to Lexa's on the side of the road. She had a small U-Haul attached to the back of it, but she'd shipped most of her things to Texas by air to try to make it there as efficiently as possible.

"Well... I guess I'll see you for... Christmas, right?"

"Right," Anya replied, smiling softly and stepping forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Lexa. "I'm gonna miss you, but I know you'll be fine."

"Same," Lexa murmured, hugging her best friend close. "And you can always come back up to the coast whenever you need to run away from cowboys or something."

Anya let out a bright laugh. "You're crazy." She pulled out of their hug and stepped backwards. "I should probably get going. I already have to stop for the night, I should at least make sure that I don't have too much driving to do tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, you should go," Lexa agreed, nodding and hugging her coat around herself again. It was the beginning of October, and it was getting quite chilly out. "Text me when you get to your hotel tonight. And call me tomorrow morning, alright?"

Anya smirked. "You sure you're gonna want me to?"

"Of course," Lexa answered with a scoff. "If you don't, I'll assume you died somewhere between here and Texas. Got it?"

"Got it. Love you, Lex."

"Love you too," Lexa said to her friend, smiling softly as Anya turned and got into her car, starting it up and driving off, her U-Haul in tow. Lexa took in a deep breath and looked to her own car. "You can do this, Lexa..."

* * *

 **From Rae Bae – How about we meet at the cafe when I get off at four? We can grab a quick bite before you go to work? XX**

Clarke looked down at the text that she had already responded to hours ago, checking that she'd gotten the time right. There was definitely no other place than the one she was at that Raven would casually identify as "the cafe", since this was their typical hangout spot only a ten minute drive from their apartment, and it was most definitely four. She was just about fed up and ready to text her friend again when her phone suddenly vibrated with a text message.

 **From Rae Bae – Looks like I can't make it! But on the bright side, I got you off of work tonight! You're welcome! See you tomorrow!**

"Tomorrow?" Clarke muttered under her breath.

 **To Rae Bae – Tomorrow? And what the fuck do you mean you got me off of work?**

As she hit send, two soft hands suddenly covered her eyes with the utmost care. "Guess who," a smooth, familiar voice murmured into her ear. Clarke's face lit up despite the hands covering them, and she gasped.

"Lexa?"

"Wow, you're a good guesser." The hands dropped away, and Clarke jumped up from where she'd been sitting, wrapping her girlfriend into a hug.

"What are you doing here, oh my god?" Lexa just chuckled as Clarke breathed out the question, and when the blonde pulled away, she still kept her arms wrapped around Lexa's waist. "Wait, are you alright? I mean, with Anya leaving and everything. I can't really think of any other reason you'd be here. Well – to see me, of course, but it's a Thursday and..."

Her words were cut off with a searing kiss, and she couldn't find it in herself to pulled out of it. Lexa calmed her easily with the kiss, and when she finally pulled away, she intertwined her hands with the blonde's and began to pull her out of the cafe. "Obviously I came to see you. I had to get Raven to get you to think that you were meeting her here. Sorry."

"It's fine," Clarke insisted. "You probably saved Raven anyway. She owes me a long explanation for some shit."

Lexa looked carefully at Clarke for a moment, her green eyes filled with something that was unfamiliar to the blonde, but then she softened. "Well, good to know she won't be dying then."

"So I guess you're the reason that she got me off of work?" Clarke asked, glancing at the street by the sidewalk and noticing that Lexa's car was nowhere to be found.

"Yes, but don't worry, you can still work tomorrow and Saturday, so don't get pissed at her," Lexa answered, smiling.

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, you're not leaving tomorrow morning, are you?"

"No. Actually, I want to show you something."

The blonde was extremely confused. "Huh?"

"Come with me," Lexa coaxed softly, smiling still and taking a step backwards along the sidewalk. Clarke forced herself to relax as she listened to her girlfriend's gentle voice, and she nodded, keeping Lexa's hand in hers as she started forward. They fell in step with one another as Lexa led her expertly down the street.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Lexa answered.

"Lexa," Clarke whined, pouting at the brunette and receiving nothing but a laugh in return. Clarke followed Lexa across the street to where a small strip shopping center was, but they didn't enter it. Instead, they walked a little bit more, and they were suddenly standing in front of a building that Clarke didn't recognize. They stopped in the parking lot of it, and Clarke furrowed her eyebrows, before realizing what it was. "Wait, this is an apartment building."

"Yes."

"Why are you taking me to an apartment building?" Clarke turned her blue eyes to look at Lexa, and found that green eyes were already boring into her. It took only half a second for her to discern what it meant. "Wait a second... did you... are you... is this..." Clarke couldn't form words all of the sudden.

Lexa grinned widely, squeezing Clarke's hand and dragging her toward the entrance to the building. Clarke followed blindly, as they went up an elevator to the third floor of the building and ended up in front of the door to one of the apartments. Lexa produced a key from her coat pocket, and Clarke just about died as she realized that yes, Lexa had bought an apartment in DC.

When the door opened, Clarke saw before her a living room and kitchen area strewn with boxes, as well as two open doors that led into rooms also filled with boxes. "I sort of stole your friends earlier to help me unpack the moving pod I had to drag behind my poor little car to bring all of this. Raven actually got off a few hours ago. And she's known since I've known that I was going to move here. I'm sorry that she didn't tell you. I wanted to... surprise you, I guess. And once I'd decided not to tell you, it felt stupid to think about telling you because I didn't want you to freak out about me not telling you sooner or something. So I figured this was better. I mean, Anya left for Texas this morning. I quit my handed in my resignation from work a few weeks ago and last Friday was my last day. I have no idea what the fuck I'm going to do for work here, but I think I can find some sort of photography gig."

Clarke was absolutely speechless as she listened to Lexa talk. When the brunette finally paused, Clarke threw her arms around her. "Oh my god... you live here now."

"Yep. Was kind of tricky to get out of my lease a few months early, but my landlord loves me so." Lexa chuckled, burying her face into Clarke's hair. "I don't wanna be far away from you anymore, Clarke."

"I just..." Clarke squeezed her eyes shut and felt a tear leak from one of them. "I don't know why I'm so surprised that this is happening I just... I guess I made myself think that it would be forever until we could live in the same place, but it's happening and I... I just love you so much, Lexa. Somuch."

"I love you too," Lexa murmured, sighing happily into the hug. They separated a moment later, though, and Lexa smiled shyly at the blonde. "So... you wanna help me unpack?"


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Super big apology for accidentally sorta forgetting that I was supposed to be updating this daily! ;-; As my apology, I just posted all 4 of the last chapters (as you likely just saw lol), and I hope you've all enjoyed this story! :D**

 **The next Clexa story that will pop up on this website will be my story called Pristine. However, it's not yet finished, and it's currently up on Ao3. Right now there are 40k words, with 14 chapters, and I will only post it when it's complete. I'm not yet sure when that will be, so if you wanna read it now, feel free to hop over to my Ao3 account - ToriWritesStories ... the only other thing that is THERE and not HERE are the two Clexa one shots that I've written. :P**

 **Thank you so much for reading and enjoying! Have a lovely 4th of July, my fellow Americans, and to everyone else, have a splendid day ;D xx**

* * *

"You really have a lot of stuff, Lexa," Clarke huffed, dragging over the next box.

"You don't have to help," Lexa insisted. "You can sit on the bed and just look pretty if you want."

Clarke rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips. "Your mattress is still propped up against the wall, Lexa. I'm pretty sure I don't want to just sit on the bed frame."

"So let me empty all of my clothes into my closet and you can go push the mattress onto the bed," Lexa suggested, grinning at the blonde. Clarke glanced down at the box she'd just opened, and her eyes darkened.

"Wait, no, it's fine. I'll do this box."

Lexa narrowed her eyes. "What's in the box?" Clarke giggled as she grabbed a fistful of Lexa's panties and raised them up out of the box, and Lexa's face flushed. "Put the underwear down, babe, I'm getting that box."

"Fine," Clarke muttered, giving in and standing up as she dropped the panties back into the box. "So did all of my friends know that you were moving here before I did?"

"Yes, but only Raven by more than a few hours. The rest of them found out when they came to help me empty the U-Haul pod thing," Lexa answered, dropping her underwear and lingerie into one of the shelves of her closet. "I kind of feel bad that they all knew before you, but at least you didn't have to help with the box moving."

"Just the box emptying," Clarke agreed with a smile. She grabbed the mattress and pulled the top of it from where it was leaning against the wall, carefully pulling it toward the bed and somehow making it fall over perfectly onto the frame. "I'm tired."

"Of course you are," Lexa commented, smirking a little.

"Hey, you don't get to make fun of me for being tired. You're literally always sleeping."

"Except, not literally."

Clarke huffed, collapsing onto the bare mattress and staring up at the ceiling. "I can't believe that you live here. This feels like a dream."

"It's not," Lexa stated unnecessarily from where she was still seated on the floor, going through her boxes of clothes. They'd gone through the kitchen boxes already, and after a good few hours of work, they were about halfway done with the whole task.

"Thank goodness," Clarke breathed out. "If I woke up and it had all been a dream, I'm pretty sure I would die."

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Lexa asked, raising an eyebrow as she stood up, drawing Clarke's gaze. "How about some food?"

"You actually have food here? Already?"

Lexa blushed a little. "I may have prepared a little bit for this very moment. I just bought takeout from some place that Raven said was good."

"I have no objections," the blonde said happily, accepting the hand that her girlfriend was extending down to her. She got up off of the bed and let Lexa lead her out of the bedroom and back into the unpacked kitchen. Clarke sat at one of the two bar stools that Lexa had at the island counter, while the latter made her way to the refrigerator. "What'd you get?"

"I think it's Chinese food?"

"Wow, you sure trust Rae a lot," Clarke said, snickering. "Though considering that I like Chinese food, I'd say it could be worse. She could've told you to go get Indian food."

"You don't like Indian food?"

The blonde scrunched her nose. "Not particularly."

"Noted," Lexa said, chuckling as she located two plates from one of the cabinets and poured food out onto them. Clarke watched as she put the plates into her microwave and put it on reheat before turning, leaning on the counter, and meeting the blue gaze. "What?"

"What?" Clarke asked back, smiling a little.

"You're staring at me."

"I'm thinking about the past few weeks," the blonde answered, tilting her head. "Your secret keeping skills could use some work. Raven's too."

Lexa raised her eyebrows. "Well you didn't know, so it seems like it worked out fine."

"Okay yeah, but thinking back, I should've figured it out. Rae's already been just weird as fuck recently. She always had these mysterious errands to run. What were those about? Or do they not have anything to do with this?"

"No, they did," Lexa confirmed, nodding. "She was like the middle man between me and my new landlord. And actually, the day that I came and surprised you before, I spent a few hours in DC before I came to the bar to look at the apartment that I'd had Raven look at for me."

Clarke's jaw dropped. "Seriously?"

"How's that for secret keeping?"

"And I thought you just came to surprise me because you love me," Clarke murmured, pouting at the brunette as the microwave beeped to let them know that the reheat was done. Lexa laughed as she turned around and began to take the food out.

"Well I sorta moved here because I love you, so I guess it adds up to equal that." Clarke hummed happily as Lexa placed a plate of food in front of her and then took a seat next to her.

"I like this place," Clarke said thoughtfully as she took a bite of her rice. She glanced around the whole apartment, the living room set up with Lexa's comfy couch and her TV already, but with a few boxes still around the living area. Then there was the spare bedroom that Clarke wasn't sure she knew what Lexa would do with. There were a few boxes in there, probably extra things that Lexa mostly wanted to keep boxed up or something. Clarke wasn't sure, because most of the boxes were in Lexa's bedroom, filled with clothes and photography stuff and random mementos and DVDs. A lot of clothes actually – while Clarke had one dresser of her clothes at home, Lexa's full closet would clearly not fit into a dresser. The blonde wasn't sure why she was surprised by that, since she'd seen all of Lexa's clothes in her old closet before. "It's bigger than your place in New York."

"Yes," Lexa agreed.

"Why the extra room?"

The brunette hummed. "I don't know, I thought that there was probably something I could figure out to put in there."

"I bet if you buy a few more clothing items, you could make it your closet," Clarke commented, smirking a little as she took another bite of her food.

"Shut up," Lexa said, frowning. "Plus, as I recall, you quite enjoy stealing my clothes."

"No," Clarke denied. She was shaking her head, but Lexa gave her an incredulous look. "Okay, maybe, but I can't. Because then Raven would say 'I told you so', because she told me forever ago to steal your clothes."

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. "When?"

Clarke's cheeks flushed. "When we came back from Switzerland and you had to go to that art gallery and you left me alone in your apartment. She's also the only reason I didn't steal your hoodie. Maybe if I had stolen it, we wouldn't have been apart for a whole three months straight, though."

Lexa rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Feel free to steal all the clothes you like from my closet. I have a lot."

"I know, babe," Clarke returned, smirking again. "I guess I can let Raven say 'I told you so'..."

* * *

When they finished eating, Clarke insisted that she clean up their plates, and Lexa said that she would go take a shower and then she wanted to just finish unpacking in the morning. Clarke didn't mind that plan, so she let Lexa disappear into her bedroom and then the bathroom. It only took her a couple of minutes to clean up the dishes, and then she washed her hands and made her way back into Lexa's bedroom.

She resisted the urge to go sneak into her girlfriend's shower with her, and instead finished emptying the half emptied box. Below the panties and lingerie were a couple of pajama items that looked pretty comfy. She stored them neatly in Lexa's closet and then tossed the empty box into the growing pile of them.

Then, knowing that her girlfriend wouldn't be in the shower for two much longer, she quickly stripped off her shirt and her tugged down her pants. She debated whether or not to also preemptively remove her underwear and bra, and she ended up deciding to do so. When she was completely naked, and quickly located the box sitting around that held Lexa's bed sheets and blankets. She grabbed the soft sheets first, enjoying the way the felt against her bare skin, and spread them over Lexa's empty mattress. She then added the blankets that she easily recalled being on the brunette's bed in New York. Lastly, she retrieved pillows from another box and slid pillow cases onto them.

She sound of water running in the shower suddenly faded away, so Clarke quickly neatened the blankets on the bed and then exited the bedroom. She sat naked on the bar stool she'd been seated at before and brushed some hair out of her face, waiting for Lexa. When she heard the bathroom door opened, she knew that Lexa was noticing the made bed. "Clarke?" The brunette suddenly appeared in the doorway of her bedroom, her hair still slightly damp and only a towel wrapped around her. She froze, her green gaze glued to Clarke's body instantly.

"You know, I think there is something wrong with this apartment."

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, looking up at Clarke's eyes now. "What?" Her voice was quiet, and Clarke smiled somewhat devilishly.

"It hasn't been properly christened yet," she answered.

"I just moved in today."

"No better time... Plus, I'm kinda bummed that I missed your shower, and so I wouldn't mind you having to shower again in the morning..." Clarke bit down on her lower lip. Lexa's eyes darkened, and she took a few steps closer to the blonde. "Plus, I made your bed for you, so you should probably repay me anyway."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Lexa dropped her towel, and neither of them paid attention to it as it pooled around her feet. Soft hands clasped Clarke's and pulled her off of the bar stool, and Lexa pressed her lips against the blonde's. It was slow for a moment, but then Lexa's hands drifted to the sides of Clarke's midsection, down to her hips, and then lower to grip her thighs and push her backwards. She felt her back press against the cold counter top, and Lexa's tongue delved into her mouth as she was hoisted up onto the center island counter.

She was surprised when she found herself pushed down so that she was laying entirely flat on it, and Lexa was suddenly hovering above her as she cold marble counter top caused her to shiver. "It's cold," she murmured into Lexa's lips.

Lexa's thigh suddenly fit snugly in between Clarke's, and the blonde let out a quiet moan as Lexa bit her lower lip. Every touch burned in the best way, and soon Clarke forgot about the cold surface beneath her. A moan escaped her lips again as Lexa pressed her thigh against Clarke's center. "Still cold?" Lexa murmured.

"Lexa," Clarke moaned in response, her hips rising upwards, needy. Lexa hummed in response, grinding her thigh against Clarke's center purposefully. The hand that wasn't propping herself up was cupping Clarke's breast, brushing her fingers over the sensitive nipple. Clarke's body never failed to react to Lexa's touches, even after weeks of being starved of them. She knew that she would never stop reacting so innately to her girlfriend.

Lexa dragged her hand downward as she let her weight come down a bit more on the blonde and she slid her fingers between Clarke's thighs. She teased her a little, not quite touching where Clarke needed her to, and when she finally did, Clarke knew that she would be soaked soon if she wasn't already now. She knew she was well on the way, though, when Lexa's fingers slid over her whole slit and then gently inside of her.

"Mm, fuck, Lexa," Clarke panted. Lexa's lips had moved from her own and were pressing wet kisses along her collarbone and the tops of her breasts. Clarke squeezed her eyes closed as she began to lose herself, and her breathing became quick and uneven. "Fuck!"

A moment later, the blonde let out a shaking breath, and Lexa removed her fingers from the blonde, bringing them to her mouth and sucking them clean as Clarke watched. "Was that repayment enough?"

"Will the rest of our night be determined on me saying yes or no?" Clarke asked, her voice low and rough and she noticed Lexa's eyes become even darker green as she heard it.

"Hmm. Well, I guess we haven't fully christened the apartment either way," Lexa commented, dragging her damp fingers from the center of Clarke's chest down to her belly button. The blonde shivered.

"Exactly," she murmured in agreement.

"So what next?"

A grin split across Clarke's face, and the blonde sat up on her elbows, her face inches away from Lexa's now. The brunette leaned down and joined their lips, and Clarke took the chance to readjust her arm and sit up completely, Lexa falling into her lap. She then brought her hands around to Lexa's ass, squeezing it and gently pushing them off of the counter. "I can think of somethings," she murmured as their lips parted for breath. "And some locations. Maybe couch first?"

"Whatever you want," Lexa breathed out, and Clarke joined their lips again quickly, tangling their tongues and pushing Lexa into the living area. The both stumbled when they reached the couch and Clarke pretty much fell on top of Lexa as they landed on the cushions. The giggle that escaped Lexa's lips made Clarke grin into their kiss before deepening it further. Her front was flush with Lexa's, and her hands explored the body that they had already memorized by now.

It was when Lexa was squirming beneath her that Clarke finally made a move to start giving her girlfriend any relief, lowering her hand to her center. She watched as Lexa gasped and moaned and arched in response to her fingers' movements, and she moaned at how fucking perfect the brunette was. She laid against her girlfriend and placed a soft kiss below her ear as the brunette began gasping for breath. "I love you so much," Clarke whispered into Lexa's ear, followed by a series of sweet nothings that she knew Lexa wouldn't recall once she came anyway.

After the couch came the spare room, where Lexa took her on the laminate floor and against the wall, and then the bedroom, where Clarke topped the brunette once again and the they continued to please one another until they were utterly spent. Lexa's collapsed practically on top of Clarke as they both gently pulled their fingers out of one another, both of them with a thin layer of sweat sparkling on their skin. "Think the place is properly christened now?" Lexa murmured against Clarke's shoulder, before placing a soft kiss against the skin there.

"Yes," Clarke replied, her breathing heavy and erratic. "Although we didn't get the bathroom. So we're going to have to do that tomorrow morning."

"Wasn't that the plan anyway?" Lexa asked, grabbing the blanket from where it had ended up squished at the end of the bed and pulling it up over the two of them. Lexa curled into the blonde, her face burying itself into Clarke's neck and her messy blonde hair.

"Yeah." Clarke wrapped her arms around the brunette and cuddled into her as well. "I'm not sure I'll be able to walk in the morning, though."

Lexa chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be just fine."

"I guess I'll have to be, if I don't want to suffer through Rae's teasing," Clarke murmured, feeling herself being pulled under the spell of sleep. When Lexa didn't reply, though, she realized that the brunette had already fallen asleep herself, and so she let herself go.

* * *

Friday morning was spent showering, for an excessive amount of time of course, followed by finishing Lexa's unpacking. With both of them at it, it didn't take past noon to finish. As they worked, Lexa admitted that a lot of the time that she'd said that she was helping Anya pack, she'd really been packing her own apartment up. Clarke was still shocked at herself for not having realized, and she had to eventually give in and admit that Lexa had done a pretty good job at keeping it secret. Then she made Lexa promise to not keep such big things from her in the future, the brunette let out a near giggle and promised.

Lexa went to a nearby grocery store to fill up her fridge when Clarke left for work, but by the time that Raven and Octavia had shown up at the bar to ask the blonde how it'd all gone, Lexa was on her way as well. It was such a new feeling – having the knowledge that Lexa was going to show up, and if she didn't, she'd still be right there in the same city as Clarke. Such a strange feeling, but one that was definitely not unwelcome.

Raven preemptively forgave Clarke for all of the time that the blonde would be spending at Lexa's apartment instead of theirs, and Clarke answered that by insisting that she wasn't going to apologize for it. She was joking, though, because of course she would feel bad about leaving Raven more on her own. They both already knew that Clarke would be spending most nights at Lexa's place. Clarke wondered if Raven had had any qualms about that while she'd been helping Lexa get the apartment in the first place.

After Clarke's work on Friday, Octavia surprised all three of them, Clarke, Lexa and Raven, by saying that they were going back to hers and Lincoln's place to celebrate.

So they headed over to their decent sized apartment at midnight, and there found all the rest of Clarke's friends waiting. Lexa already felt like she knew most of them well enough, and she was glad that she could get along with all of them, considering that they all were really the only people in DC that she knew other than Clarke. Of course, Jasper kept gawking at her, but Clarke just kept shooing him away and promising that that was how he was with all girls he wasn't quite used to being around yet.

It was one-thirty in the morning, while Clarke found herself sprawled across Octavia and Lincoln's couch with her head in Lexa's lap, when Lincoln dropped down onto one knee and asked Octavia to marry him. Everyone had frozen in shock and amazement, and then immediately began cheering in excitement when the brunette exclaimed that yes of course she would marry him. Clarke couldn't help but grin pretty widely, knowing that her friend's prediction had been right.

Afterward, Octavia complained playfully to Lincoln that his proposal could've been way more romantic, but his response that he wanted to do it when they were surrounded by the people they loved and who loved and supported them, and it was all too sweet. Half an hour later, the two of them had disappeared into their bedroom and everyone else started filtering out.

Clarke went home to her own apartment, because Raven was drunk and Clarke, as Lexa knew, was the only one who could see her home safely and well enough. Especially because Clarke was sure that she needed to have a talk to Raven about everything, despite her insisting that all was well.

Sure enough, when Clarke guided her best friend into bed, Raven let out a frustrated groan and muttered, "I don't wanna sleep."

"You've gotta sleep, babe," Clarke insisted, chuckling.

"I miss Anya."

Clarke frowned, sighing. "It's hard, Rae, missing someone who lives far away. Trust me, I get it."

"But that's over for you now," Raven whined. "You're all happy and it's amazing and I'm so happy for you, but the person I want to have with me right now is halfway across the fucking country."

"I know," Clarke whispered, running her fingers through her best friend's hair. "And I'm sorry. But you don't have to have your life all sorted right now, you know? Obviously you like Anya, but not everything has to fit and make sense perfectly right now. We're young, Rae."

"So is O, and she's getting married," Raven whined. "And Lexa just moved here for you and you're about to own a fucking bar all by yourself."

"You just got a brand new job last month," Clarke reminded her, poking at her side lightly. "And you just came out about your sexuality and started a new stage in your life, Rae. We all move at different paces. And I'm not leaving you all alone, you know?"

"Don't stay with me," Raven stated suddenly, shaking her head. "Go back to Lexa's apartment tonight. Stay with her. She didn't want to ask you to move in with her, but I told her that she should. She said that you might think it was too fast, especially since she was surprising you with the move itself anyway. But I told her that she should ask you. You should ask her for her."

"What?" Clarke asked, struggling to understand Raven's slurred words. When she got what her best friend was saying a moment later, she sighed. "Rae, our lease for this place isn't over until the end of the year."

"So keep paying rent until then and then I'll find a smaller place."

"Raven..."

"It's okay, Clarke," Raven insisted, shaking her head. "I'll be okay. You're right, by the way. I'm not ridiculously behind in life, which is nice. And maybe I don't get the girl for real yet, but you have your girl and you should have her completely. You're going to be spending all of your nights there anyway, and whether or not you're living here, you're always welcome here whenever."

Clarke sighed. "Go to sleep, Rae, we'll talk later."

"Go back to Lexa's apartment tonight. Please?"

"Fine."

"Okay," Raven murmured, starting to nod off. "Goodnight."

"Night." Clarke made sure that her best friend was asleep before getting her some painkillers and water and leaving them by her bed. Then she grabbed her phone and left for Lexa's apartment.

It was about ten minutes away as a drive, but since she'd been drinking, she walked for about half an hour to get there instead. It was kind of chilly outside, and a little creepy to be out so late, but it was refreshing. It gave her time to think.

 **To Lexa – I'm outside your apartment and I don't have a key... you better wake up, because I just walked here. :o**

The door opened just a few seconds later, and it didn't look like Lexa had gone to sleep at all. "I was waiting for a goodnight text," Lexa offered in explanation. "I thought you were going to stay at your place?"

Clarke smiled and shook her head. "Nope, I got Rae to bed and now I'm going to sleep right here with you."

"Right here, or can you make it to the bed first?" Lexa asked, smirking.

"Shut up."

* * *

 **To Rae Bae – Won't be back all day, so I'll see you at the bar tonight!**

 **From Rae Bae – Don't worry about it, see ya!**

Clarke carefully wiggled her way out from Lexa's grasp, the brunette muttering a sleepy complaint before falling back to sleep easily, and made her way to the closet. She had a little section of the closet to herself, which she was surprised there was even room for considering how much clothing Lexa had. She grabbed her robe and wrapped it around her body, before sliding into the bathroom and quickly readying herself.

Despite Raven's insistence, Clarke didn't move in with Lexa. Sure, she did spend most of her nights there, especially the sex filled nights, because they couldn't annoy anyone that way. Well, they probably annoyed Lexa's neighbors, but they hadn't received any complaints thus far. Plenty of Clarke's things had made their way to Lexa's apartment, and it was practically her home as well, but it wasn't an official thing.

It had been four months since Lexa had moved to DC, though, and Clarke was a week away from moving officially to this place. In fact, the following day, Saturday, would be spent with her and her girlfriend, with the help of Octavia and Raven, moving all of Clarke's things from her and Raven's place to Lexa's place. It was late January, and Raven had asked for a month extension on their lease to have time to move, and their landlord had been nice enough to give it to them. Raven was moving into an apartment building about a twenty minute walk away from Lexa's, so they would be close.

"Clarke?" came Lexa's expected murmur from the bedroom. Lexa couldn't ever stay asleep once Clarke had left the bed, and it seemed that Clarke was always the one waking up first. That hardly surprised her, though, all things considered.

Clarke left the bathroom and met Lexa's gaze. "Hey, sorry, just getting ready." She grinned. "I'm signing the final contract today!"

Lexa's eyes lit up. "I know," she said softly, smiling sleepily.

"You gonna come with?"

"I have a shoot," Lexa reminded her, her smile dwindling a bit, and Clarke nodded that she remembered. "But I'll meet you at the bar when everyone else does tonight."

"Okay," Clarke agreed, smiling softly. "I should finish getting ready."

"When do you have to leave?" Lexa muttered as the blonde went back into the bathroom.

"Soon," Clarke replied, "and I'm pretty sure that you have to leave in about thirty minutes, so you should probably get your pretty ass up too."

"No."

"You think you can take amazing pictures while half asleep in bed, babe?" Clarke laughed lightly as she retrieved her makeup from one of the drawers in the bathroom. It was her second set, because it had become a hassle to have only one set that she had to bring from place to place.

"I'm pretty good at what I do, Clarke."

Clarke bit down on her lower lip as she grinned into the mirror. "I know."

"That's not what I meant."

Clarke smirked. "I know that too."

"You're insufferable."

"You seem to deal with me pretty well," Clarke commented, and suddenly Lexa was behind her, pressing her naked body against Clarke's barely covered back. "Hey, I'm trying to get ready."

"You don't need to go own a bar, just stay here, stay with me," Lexa teased, pressing a soft kiss to Clarke's neck as the blonde chuckled.

"Maybe not, but you have to go take some pretty pictures of some pretty furniture or something, right?"

"The furniture is shit actually," Lexa muttered, pouting.

"But your pictures will look amazing."

"That's true."

"So go get ready, babe," Clarke said, laughing again at Lexa's adorable pout.

"I'm just excited for next week, because I get to take actual cool pictures in Virginia," Lexa said, shifting so that she was standing next to Clarke instead of behind her. The blonde now had a full view of her naked body, and she couldn't help but stare for a moment before beginning to finish her makeup.

"I'm excited for next week because I get to officially live with you," Clarke added. Lexa smiled widely as she tied her hair up into a messy bun. "You should probably put on some clothes, though, or we're both going to end up late and then lose our jobs and then we won't even afford to live anywhere."

Lexa scoffed. "Please."

Clarke laughed and finished up her makeup, before moving back into the bedroom and to the closet. She slid on some jeans and a blouse, grabbing some of Lexa's shoes because they were nicer than hers. "Okay well, I should go."

Lexa came out of the bathroom with a pout on her face, and Clarke got close enough to peck on her on the lips before stepping back again. Lexa sighed. "I'll see you tonight."

"Yes you will!"

Clarke left the apartment and met Wick at his bank, where a notary was waiting to help them with their contract signing. An hour later, she walked out of the bank as the owner of her own bar. When she got back to the apartment that was soon to be officially hers as well as Lexa's, the brunette was gone to take pictures. Instead of getting some shitty job that she didn't want, Lexa had decided to get a website for her photography and she ended up getting some pretty sweet deals early on. She had quite a few recurring customers, and Clarke was just happy that she was getting to do something that she loved.

Every now and then they talked about Lexa doing another exhibit in a gallery that would require traveling, and every time Clarke mentioned those conversations to Raven, her best friend took the liberty to remind her that she owed her a trip to Europe.

Clarke met up with everyone at the bar later. She's already been looking for bartenders to hire, since she worked every day and she wanted to be able to take more weekdays off, so she wasn't planning to stay at the bar for longer than was needed to get all of her friends and Lexa and herself started for the real party.

After they'd each taken two shots – aside from Lexa, since Clarke wouldn't make her drink anything if she didn't want to – they made their way to one of the clubs that Clarke's friends liked. It always felt strange being in a club with Lexa, because despite all of the craziness and the loud music around her, as well as all of the people, Lexa still was somehow her only focus. And Lexa still wasn't big on drinking alcohol other than wine, but she'd developed a taste for some martinis and things. Every time someone other than Clarke made it, though, she insisted that it was awful in comparison.

Even though she would drink the whole thing whether or not Clarke had made it.

That night, they stole away from their friends to dance together and celebrate. There were a lot of things to celebrate. Clarke owning the bar, Clarke and Lexa moving in together, Lincoln and Octavia getting married in two months. Harper and Luke were getting serious, Jasper had finally found another girl who he really liked. Monty was dating a guy named Nathan, who had fallen in with their group well. Bellamy was getting into a relationship with a girl – a possibly serious relationship with a nice girl – and everyone was pretty happy for him. Raven was stuck in long distance, but at least she was happy now as well.

Anya had come up to DC for Christmas, and had at first planned to stay with Lexa until she realized that Clarke and Lexa had sex even louder now that they were used to having it in private. She went to stay in Clarke's room at her and Raven's apartment, and unsurprisingly spent all of her sleeping time in Raven's bed, as well as a lot of her awake time. By the time Anya had gone back down to Texas after Christmas, she and Raven had made it official that they were girlfriends. Clarke and Lexa were both happy for them.

It was midnight when Clarke and Lexa stumbled out of the club, shouting goodbye to their friends, and took a cab back to Lexa's apartment. They were tired and tipsy on alcohol, but drunk on happiness, and changed into Lexa's pajamas and cuddled up in the bed – their bed, really – together. "Today was a good day," Clarke murmured, curling up against the brunette. "How was your shoot?"

"Could've been better, but the rest of the day was perfect," Lexa answered with a sigh. "Ah, hey, can I ask you something?"

"Mmhmm," Clarke hummed in response, pressing her lips against Lexa's neck lazily.

"You wanna go somewhere in April?"

"April? As in a year after we met?"

Lexa chuckled. "Yes."

"Where are we gonna go?" Clarke asked, pulling away a little bit to look at Lexa's deep, green eyes.

"I was thinking maybe Italy," Lexa answered, biting down on her lower lip. "Not for like... three weeks or anything. Just a weekend or a week at most."

Clarke felt a grin spread across her face. "That sounds perfect." Lexa smiled widely as well, still biting her lip. "Rae will murder me."

"Will she murder you if when you tell her, you also tell her that Anya is going to take a week off that same week and come up to DC to stay with her?" Lexa asked, raising her eyebrows.

Clarke's jaw dropped. "You and Anya are sneaky little shits."

"Mm yes," Lexa agreed. "Anya gets very generous vacation days. They rollover every year, too, and they gave her half a year's worth for the three months she worked this past year, so she has a few leftover from that."

"Lucky her, and lucky Rae. But I like our work situations better."

Lexa laughed, nodding. "I agree. So, is that a yes to Italy? You'll come with me?"

"Of course you weirdo, and don't tell me that you were planning on going by yourself if I said no," Clarke teased, narrowing her eyes.

The brunette laughed again, and Clarke's whole heart warmed and skipped a beat at the sound. "Well, I was kind of counting on you saying yes, so I didn't really think that far ahead."

"Mm, I love you," Clarke murmured, letting her eyes flutter closed as she closed the last bit of space in between them.

"I know."

"Lexa."

"I love you too, Clarke, obviously."

Clarke smiled against Lexa's skin, sighing contently. "You don't have any shoots tomorrow right?"

"No, why?"

"I told one of the new bartenders I wouldn't be coming in," Clarke answered sleepily.

"Aw, you're gonna stay with me all day?"

"All day," Clarke confirmed, nuzzling her nose against Lexa's soft skin. There was a peaceful silence for a few minutes, and Clarke only spoke again when she was pretty sure that Lexa was asleep anyway. "I'm gonna stay with you forever, Lexa." Her eyelids were suddenly heavy, and she fell asleep curled up against her favorite person.

She didn't see Lexa smiled or feel her hold her closer. She didn't hear the sweet nothings, which were everything, that Lexa began to whisper into the dark.

Lexa didn't mind that, though, because as Clarke had just made clear, she would have forever to say them again and again.


End file.
